Thanks to my wonderful reviewer named KayleeChiara, I am now going deeper into Soundwave's past. This is going to be based around a flashback that took place in chapter ten of my story, Tiny. You don't need to read that to understand this fic. The reviewer mentioned above saw that this could turn into a separate story on its own, and I saw that there is next to nothing known about Soundwave before the Great War. And so, this fic was born.
This will be following the Prime continuity Soundwave with a few references from the novel Transformers: Exodus by Alex Irvine and exploring how Soundwave became the silent Decepticon communications officer he is today. This told from Soundwave's POV. I don't own Transformers or Transformers Exodus. Hasbro and Alex Irvine is rated T for a reason.
Soundwave talks here, but not much.
"It's easy to feel okay about taking out an enemy who's been characterized as 'evil', here you've brought out the idea [that] they're not..."-A Review from KayleeChiara
"Alright, ore squadron twelve, get started on the South Manganese Mountains shipment immediately!"
I looked up from the cauldron of white hot liquid metal I was about the pour into the armor decor cast. The manager of the factory I worked in had come out of his cooled office to make this announcement. The mechs around me, filthy from work, all looked up at the high balcony. Soon the only sound that could be heard was the low growling of the many furnaces in the factory and the cooling fans of overheating workers.
I, along with twenty-nine others, am in ore squadron twelve and just completed a particularly large shipment from the mountains. Many of us needed refueling, but we usually only recieved our rations of energon once our work was completed. In this case, we were now far from done.
Many of us complain about the work, but we know better than to voice our opinions in an official manner to the owners of industry in our city-state, Tagan Heights. There would be no point in trying. The only job we can do is factory work, and if we leave in protest, we can easily be replaced. Aside from that, we would not rise up against the owners of industry because they provide the energon we use to support ourselves. Our labor is 'rewarded', I suppose.
"I'm just glad we get off soon. I can't wait till I get home," My friend, Chisel, grunted in a f\vaguely frustrated manner from near the furnace he was in charge of. He hated this labor, but, like the rest of us working in this factory complex, he was born into a low caste. The higher castes leaned too heavily on our labor to allow us to slip out from underneath them. Anyway, Chisel is correct; we do leave relatively soon.
A few solar cycles ago I first heard that there would be a new factory worker replacing a mech who was killed in a furnace accident. At first I ignored it. It was nothing unusual to have mechs swiftly replaced in this line of work. But the fact that the word itself was spreading around so quickly alarmed me somewhat. It's not my place to investigate (I am a mere factory worker) but it is becoming hard to resist the urge.
I poured the liquid metal in the cast and pulled the lever so it could be instantly pressed and cooled into the appropriate item. The rapidly cooling piece was then dumped out of the cast and onto a conveyor belt to be assembled with other pieces by the mechs stationed there. I poured more molten metal from Chisel's furnace into my cauldron and repeated the process over again. This was tedious, tiring work and often left many of my fellow workers bored. To pass the time, they sang old praises to Primus quite often. I sometimes participated.
After hours of more work, my squadron was allowed off work. Most mechs ran out of the factory complex like younglings from a youth academy, not that any of these mechs have been to one. Being born into a low caste makes it next to impossible to enroll into a school. I was one of the lucky ones, however. My carrier managed to 'pull a few fiber strands', as Chisel would say, and get me into the local academy. I couldn't graduate, though, because of the work draft the Tagan Heights labor management department issued for me. I would have been arrested if I chose not to comply with the draft.
I walked outside with my close friend, Chisel. I adjusted the visual input in my optics as the setting sun glared onto my faceplates over the massive complex buildings.
"Wave, I'll see you tomorrow." Chisel gave a tired smile and headed towards his personal residence. I lifted a servo in farewell and walked southwest, towards my own home. My residence is nothing to take much pride in. It's small and I can only afford to pay for the things I absolutely need, such as a berth, stores of energon, among other things. I am just barely able to pay for the energon-powered lighting, but I have managed for a while now. There are some bots that are worse off than me.
I could fly to the residential complex I live in on the outskirts of Tagan Heights, but I prefer to walk. It allows me time to clear my processor and reflect on the day's events. The light sensitive lamps lining the empty street flickered on as the sun disappeared over the huge buildings around me. I quickened my pace. This particular road is notorious for night attacks. Though I am not particularly concerned, I'm better safe than sorry.
Just before I reached the corner before my residential complex, I heard a faint sound. I stopped and boosted the power to my audio receptors. I do not know what that sound is, but it is coming from far down that alley to my right. I turned and attempted to look for the source of the sound, but to no avail. The alley was too dark for me to see very far and I was no equipped with lights to conduct a search from afar. The only choice I had was to go into the alley.
I cautiously stepped into the shadows of the alleyway and heard the noise once again. It sounded like a whimper. My tension eased slightly as I moved further into the alley. Perhaps it's just a lost cyberdog. I stopped as the sound came again accompanied by other sounds. They were voices, four, to be exact. Three mechs and one that I had trouble identifying. I walked further into the darkness, optics adjusting to the low light levels. The mechs sounded as if they were laughing, but at what, I didn't know. I refrained from drawing conclusions as I drew closer to the sounds. Soon, I was able to see what was going on.
These three mechs (whom I have come to know as workers in the same factory I was stationed in) were holding a soft green femme hostage, one of them pinning her to the wall. I stood still in the shadows, unnoticed by the mechs as I took in the entire scene. The femme had her faceplates turned away from me as she resisted a forced kiss. The whimper I heard earlier was her sobbing. Anger flared in my spark as I watched what the mechs were doing to her. The mech pinning her against the wall had his interface equipment in full view and was pressed against the femme's closed panel. She had been held against her will for quite some time, judging by the bite marks and her slumped stature. She had little fight left.
Because we were born into a low caste, femmes were especially rare. Most of them were quickly claimed by the common factory accidents. These disgraceful mechs were taking full advantage of the weakened femme. I silently stepped out of the shadows.
Not for long.
I quickly grabbed the other two mechs that were watching the first one and slammed their helms against the building wall. A very loud clang resonated as the two slid to the ground. I was not armed, but I'm very strong for my relatively small size. The remaining mech who had pinned the green femme to the wall spun around, optics falling onto me. Before he could respond, I rushed forward and rammed him into the wall next to the femme. The femme nearly leaped away from the mech who attempted to force her into an interface when his frame threatened to fall on her. I shifted so I could see all three of the disgusting mechs. One of the mechs I detained first glared up at me from the ground.
"Who in the Pit do you fraggin' think you are?!" The looks on the other mechs' faces asked the same question. I widened my stance, staring hard at the mech who spoke.
"Lay a servo on a femme again and you will not be so lucky." I stared at them, deadly serious. The clear message came across the mechs and they fled down the alley, after making idle threats to have me killed. I watched them flee in their ground alt-modes before crouching next to the femme and asking if she was alright. She said she was and attempted to stand, only to wobble and fall back to her knees. I assisted her in standing and walked with her back to the street.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked the green femme. She looked at me and gave a small smile.
"I was just allowed off work from the ore factory down the street." My optics widened. I hadn't noticed a femme working in the factory I was in. I would have seen her otherwise. Unless... unless she was the bot who was replacing the mech who was killed in the accident. That would explain the rumors. It was strange to see a femme with such delicate features anywhere near the factories.
I didn't ask her how she had gotten into her previous predicament, not wishing to know, and advised her to stay in the light of the street lamps at night. She laughed quietly, saying that she wasn't a sparkling. I moved on and asked her where her residential complex was. Once we reached to corner, she looked around and pointed to the north at a building nearby. I walked with her there and up to her own personal residence.
She was not badly injured, just tired. The femme is safe. I watched as she keyed in the access code to her residence and the door slid open. Seeing no reason why I should remain any longer, I said goodbye and left for my home without another word.
...Next Workday...
"Hey, Wave, I heard you beat the slag out of those three thugs." Chisel commented in between loads of metal ore to be melted in his furnace. I pulled the lever and the press slammed down on the hot metal to form the item.
"They nearly forced a femme into interfacing with them," I said, pouring more liquefied metal into the now empty cast. I am not surprised that Chisel knows. Gossip spreads very quickly in this factory. I caught a smile on my friend's face.
"Oooh, so you wanted her." I stopped for a moment and stared at my friend. He shrugged and dumped another load of ore into his furnace.
"I was just joking, Soundwave. I know you were just trying to help her, but, come on! How can a mech pass up an opportunity like that?" Before I could respond, I saw someone coming towards me from the corner of my optic. I turned and looked to see the femme from the other day pushing past the mechs working other parts of the factory. I tilted my helm slightly to the side. How did she find me?
She walked towards Chisel and me and stopped before me, cooling fans on high gear. Her servos were dirty, and her frame was covered in the black soot of unprocessed ore. She was indeed a fellow laborer.
"Excuse me, what is your name? I meant to ask yesterday, but you left before I could." Her voice matched her frame, gentle and delicate. I heard a noise that suspiciously sounded like a snicker coming from Chisel, but I ignored it.
"My name is Soundwave." She smiled brightly at me and held out a dirty servo.
"My name is Halyard, but you can call me Halli." I politely took her servo and shook it, marveling at how strong her grip was, despite her dainty appearance.
"Could we share a cube of energon together during our break? I've been meaning to talk to you since last night."
I blinked at her. "Of course, Halya-... Halli."
And, it is done. The first chapter of Backtrack. So fun to write! :) Again, I want to thank KayleeChiara for giving me this idea in the first place.
In the next chapter, Soundwave and Halli will get to know one another during their mid-solar cycle refuel break.
Just to be clear, this is Primeverse Soundwave before the Great 's friend, Chisel, likes to joke around and mess with people. He essentially balances out Soundwave's serious, clean cut nature. Tagan Heights is responsible for forty percent of all the industry on Cybertron, which is a lot. Ore factory working is the job of a low caste bot, like ore mining.
If you have any ideas or opinions for me, just let me know in a review.
Until next time, Inkdragon out!