This is a set of practice oneshots which I would like to beileve are quite different to my usual material so heed the warning that all the stories involve mechs doing very bad things or indeed being monsters.
Every bot had a reason for joining the war. Even when from ideological conflict it evolved into a dreary battle for survival some desperately clung to their principles. By this point most sane mecha hated the war though, conversely Soundwave loved it because for him survival started long before the first shots were fired. War was just another aspect of it - an aspect supplying ample amounts of fresh prey. No longer would he need to visit mortuaries to take his fill.
Affiliation had never been a question of ideals or misplaced sense of justice for him - the less scrupulous the faction, the better. So when he heard of Megatron amassing the forces consisting of miners, gladiators and prisoners, he was tempted. When the first reports of Decepticons involved in terrorism traveled over newsfeeds, he was in.
He did not care about the underlying meaning of the political split. Freeing the lower castes and overthrowing the standing order meant nothing to a mechanism such as himself.
The temptation of fresh living energon, large supply of living war prisoners and disregard for troop wellbeing dictated his affiliations.
Of course, that was not what he claimed when he kneeled before Megatron. Soundwave was conscious of how others viewed him. He actively built an image of a standoffish and silent workaholic. Loyal to a fault, only really dangerous when crossed and never engaging in relationships other than professional ones. Few ties meant fewer mechs would take interest or genuinely care. In cases he needed something done he always could fall back on blackmail.
Shockwave, being a scientist, suspected something. Soundwave avoided him to the best of his abilities. The same lack of scruples he valued in masses were dangerous when paired with a sharp and curious mind.
Starscream, being a far more intuitive mech happened to have the right gut feeling about him even if he lacked evidence to actually prove anything. Unless it concerned his own position in Decepticon ranks, he gave Soundwave a wide berth and Soundwave, for his part, never challenged the seeker about his rank, he did not need that kind of exposure.
Megatron was a separate case, Sroundwave theoreticized that he might have even had an inkling but luckily the communications officer was a resource he was not willing to compromise or part with. Who cared if some grunts went missing occasionally.
The violence among the troops served well to conceal his own actions. Gambling was discouraged but not actively persecuted so a lost game of cards was more than a perfect setting. A den full of brute mechs revved up over who was going to win was like an invitation to a dinner party.
Hidden in the shadows he would seek out the mech most disgruntled, the one most likely to have a lapse of judgement. More often than not it ended up being the one who lost, or the one who got most overcharged, or just the foolish one, there was always a weak link.
He could be coy when necessary; he would wait until his chosen target was alone and in distress, approach them, show interest. Some would get suspicious, some would consider that his lithe frame, inviting and pleasing to the optic, could serve as a consolation prize for whatever misery they were in. In the end a mech would follow him to a more secluded area for a round of casual interfacing.
He would always start with an offering; when freely given, vulnerability was highly prized in decepticon ranks. Thus Soundwave would appeal to their ego, let his partners assume a position of dominance.
He would sensually slide to his knees and nuzzle the interface panel in a way many pleasurebots would in hopes of affording their next meal. That always got the victim's engines purring, warming their energon to the temperature Soundwave preferred. Emboldened, they would let their hands roam, sometimes they would grab his spiked helm, stroke it gently and guide his visor closer to the panel or roughly force themselves on him. It was all the same as long as Soundwave got his fill in the end.
Eventually his victim would find themselves overcome with arousal and uninhibited, that was the best moment to strike. Soundwave had perfected his technique over time, should it be in the middle of an interface or by the end of it, he would pause, unlatch the bottom part of his jaw, normally hidden by the visor and attack the soft, exposed components first. One of his data cables would lodge themselves in the victim's throat to disable their voicebox, the other cable would administer an electric shock to the spark to knock the victim into stasis, the rest was just a matter of dismantling armor enough to access and devour the soft protoform within with as little mess as possible. Sometimes leaving just an empty shell of an armor behind.
Nobody would care if the mech did not return, what most would assume would be that they got lucky for the night. The next day the chassis of the poor bastard would be found in an alleyway and the conclusion would be that they got offlined for a couple of credit chips or other such nonsense.
Soundwave made sure he never was caught in the act, being a chief communications officer, it was easy to edit the suspicious data out of the network. Should someone walk in on him, he could easily hack into the systems of an average mech and tweak their memories. On a couple of occasions he actually managed making the unfortunate witnesses take the blame for the act just for the fun of it.
It may have required some time to spin the stories in a plausible way, especially when murders did not match the definition of plain assault with robbery but it was a pain he would gladly suffer if only for the taste of warm mech internals on his glossa.
In his hab suite he glanced at his reflection making sure his armor was in good state without overdoing it. Laserbeak perched on his chest as it was her duty to be on watch. He'd heard some soldiers were going to celebrate their recent successful assault mission in one of the barracks, it was time for dinner.
Soundwave is an odd mix of a chupacabra and an assassin bug, also, he is a dick.