Author's Note: Just a simple drabble one-shot about my favourite Decepticon, Soundwave :) Hope you all enjoy this. Please read and review!
They thought him a mindless, ruthless drone.
They were wrong, of course.
Soundwave wasn't the most expressive of mechs. When he articulated his words, his tone was cold and icy – if he spoke at all. The visor attached to his face prevented other Decepticons from seeing his expressions, from judging him. Sure, there were rumors going around in the lower ranks about him, about how an Autobot had torn his facial plates off, about how a run-in with Dark Energon had mutilated his facial features till he was forced to wear a visor, but they were all spawned from a mutual lack of knowledge.
They were fearful of him, though. The telepath knew that. Each time he entered a room, an unnatural hush would fall over its occupants. Most of the Decepticons had never thought about attempting to engage him in conversation, choosing to give him a berth of ten metres instead. Only a handful of Decepticons were clearly unafraid of Soundwave – they included Megatron, Starscream, Breakdown and Knockout.
Cowards, the communications mech spat internally each time he passed by a subordinate. Each time a mech passed the telepath, their optics would be usually averted away from Soundwave, their servos twitching nervously. He knew that they had a right to be afraid, of course. No one dared come near him after witnessing his fight with Airachnid, when both had conflicts about the exodus that the then acting commander had deemed. There were more rumors after that, of course. He knew that his fighting skills were efficient – he hadn't expected it to scare off most of the mechs in the Nemesis.
He knew most of the things that happened on the ship, of course. Being the stereotypical silent one, he tended to notice most things that other mechs wouldn't shutter their optics for. For example – he understood that Knockout felt depressed whenever Breakdown wasn't near him. He had understood Airachnid's intentions of treachery, not unlike Starscream's, when Megatron had been in the throes of Unicron, battling to keep the world alive alongside Optimus Prime and the other Autobots.
He had spent his time observing the enemies, too. Not too long ago – a capsule had landed on Earth, depositing a single Autobot on the planet. One whose name was Ironhide. Soundwave knew, from battle after battle with the new mech, that the Autobot leader had feelings for this Ironhide. He had observed how the Prime had ran, desperation clearly evident in his long strides, for the new Weapons Specialist when he had been struck down by Megatron, eventually managing to hold off Megatron enough for the new mech to be transported to a safe place by the blasted medic. Ratchet, if that was the medic's name.
Besides the Prime, Soundwave could also sense other things in the other Autobots and the humans who had currently took up residence in their base. There were three of them – the girl was hotheaded, just like her guardian. The shorter boy was extremely intelligent, for his age, and Soundwave was secretly impressed by his cranium capacity. The taller boy was silent, but he was logical and practical.
Soundwave detested humans. The thought of these children was already repulsive – he had even more disdain for those humans of the organization M.E.C.H. that seemed to be bent on understanding Cybertronian anatomy by dissecting the extraterrestrials. Soundwave knew that despite the Autobots' and Decepticons' many differences, they could easily agree that M.E.C.H. had to be the biggest pain in the aft. The telepath actually fantasized about crushing the humans belonging to that organization beneath his foot pedes. It would be a wonderful feeling. Once the threat of M.E.C.H. had been eliminated, the Decepticons could return to their goal of defeating the Autobots.
Soundwave was aware that, had he told anybody of these observations, he would have been permanently labeled a freak and the gossip amongst the lower ranks of Decepticons would definitely peak. No one would understand his powers of observation. Just by looking, he knew, one could learn much, be it from the enemy faction or from his own subordinate Decepticons. Hardly anybody could understand why he kept silent, or why he had to wear a visor, or why he just liked to observe instead of engaging in battle when his combat skills were almost on par with Megatron's.
Laserbeak understands me, the Decepticon had mused to himself one too many times. Usually these thoughts would be accompanied by a stray hand gently brushing the Cassetticon attached to his chassis. Laserbeak had been there on every occasion where he needed a helping hand, hadn't he? Helping the communications mech to spy on Starscream, defeat Airachnid in battle, et cetera.
He was indifferent to the world. His past bothered him – it was part of the reason why he wore a visor to prevent other mechs from seeing his inner being. Those who had been there for the traumatic events of his past were dead. The visor promoted detachment from other mechs. If they could not read his facial expressions, nor hold a simple conversation with him, it would let them refrain from asking too many questions.
But the past was gone, now. There would only be the future.
I am thought of as without emotion, Soundwave concluded, sitting in a quiet spot in the recreational room and observing the other Decepticons. As usual, everybody save one Decepticon had neglected the mech, unwilling to come near a ten-metre radius of the communications officer. There was one thing that intrigued him – despite the visor, despite his efforts to remain detached from everybody else, why was Skywarp standing in front of him, offering the mech to join his trine for their Energon break?
The expression on the Seeker's face was so plaintive that the telepath felt inclined to accept the invitation, and nodded his helm as a gesture of approval as he followed the Seeker, weaving past tables filled with drinking Decepticons and a Cybertronian-sized television blasting heavy metal music at full volume.
They are wrong about me.
Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't been updating my other stories lately, I'm trying to frame a good story structure for the other chapters. This one-shot is a little something to satiate my hunger for Soundwave stories!