Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers
Betrayed
Chapter 1: Sleepless Night
Author's Note: Well, I finally got around to editing the story. Hopefully it now runs a bit smoother. The content is the same, but there were a few spots here and there that needed to be fixed. Nothing big.
Over the millennia, Soundwave had hung onto every word out of Lord Megatron's mouth. He followed the Decepticon leader like no other. Soundwave would do anything for Megatron, anything. If he had been asked, Soundwave would go through the pits and back in order to appease his master.
But now…
Soundwave was beginning to question his own loyalty to Megatron.
All these vorns he worked, tirelessly, aiming to please his master. And yet, he was barely even noticed anymore. The words of praise, his spot as Lord Megatron's favorite, third in command, communications officer, it didn't mean anything anymore.
He lost Lord Megatron's favor and he didn't know how.
Soundwave was Megatron's most trusted, right hand mech. Yet time and time again, Megatron would forget that he was even in the same room as him. Then again, many had a habit of doing so.
He often spied on the Decepticons and reported his findings to Megatron. Nowadays, he simply did his own thing and let the Intel come to him. Soundwave had sharp audio sensors; he wasn't ashamed to listen in on conversations, or even to hack into private comm. lines.
He felt betrayed.
Megatron offered and gave out Starscream's spot as second in command to bots that Soundwave deemed unworthy. They didn't know what it meant to hold such a high rank. It wasn't something to be used as a bargaining chip.
Megatron should have promoted him. Soundwave would have done everything right. Megatron should have offered him those countless deals. He should have been the one to hunt down Arachnid. Soundwave had recently forced her into submission with no difficulty on his part. He could have easily captured her, or even finished off the job and crushed her helm in, destroying that conniving processor of hers.
Breakdown would still be alive.
Soundwave knew a loyal bot when he saw one. They seemed to be scarce of late, many having already been killed off in the war.
It was a shame.
By time Megatron had figured it out; it was too late.
Soundwave had stayed loyal even when Megatron lost his mind to the dark energon. It was consuming his master, making him delusional. Others questioned what to do. Some favored the idea of throwing Megatron out as unfit to lead.
Yet Soundwave was the one who kept peace on the Nemesis. Soundwave could have taken leadership for himself. No one would have been able to stop him
But he didn't.
He was the reason why Megatron was even able to come back to a ship at all, let alone be the commander of it.
Soundwave had to face the facts.
Megatron valued Optimus Prime more than he did Soundwave. Megatron put much more faith in Optimus during the short time the bot stayed with them.
It made Soundwave's spark burn.
He wasn't jealous of Starscream, Knockout, Breakdown, Dreadwing, or even Arachnid. He wasn't even jealous of Optimus Prime. He simply felt…
Betrayed.
Betrayed by the one bot he looked up to the most. The one bot he'd do anything for.
Soundwave had been a loyal follower to Lord Megatron for longer than anyone else. He knew and was loyal to Megatron before the war even started. He did so many things for his master and now…
Now it seemed as if Megatron had forgotten that he even existed.
Soundwave wasn't amused.
Megatron had used him.
Used him to get the job done.
It was a mistake.
A mistake for Soundwave to be on this side of the war.
He didn't believe in the Decepticon cause; he had believed in Megatron. Now, he definitely didn't believe in either. Soundwave wasn't going to fight for a cause that he didn't believe in.
Defecting would be signing his own death warrant.
He brushed one of his Decepticon insignias, feeling the familiar pattern that no longer felt comforting let alone like a badge of honor to be proud of. He found himself slightly repulsed from it, wanting to scrub away at his armor until the stains were gone.
He would have to work carefully in order to not make the same mistakes that Starscream and Arachnid did.
They both had egos the size of Cybertron's twin moons.
They scrabbled for energon crystals and yet they didn't have the tools necessary to turn it into a form they could use. It would be much simpler to plan carefully and steal refined energon that way they could use it directly.
They worked recklessly and alone which wasn't a good idea either way.
If they wanted to take down Megatron, careful planning would be necessary. For example, putting Megatron in a position where he'd be alone and unable to get back up.
On top of it all, they had been fighting Soundwave as well. He was the glue that kept the ranks in order when Megatron was off obsessing about dark energon.
The last unpleasant encounter the Decepticons had with the stuff could have been their own doom. They had been lucky that the Autobots managed to get onto the ship and remove the dark energon out of the ship's systems.
Soundwave wasn't dumb. Megatron wouldn't learn his lesson. He'd use the dark energon again, simply on something other than the ship next time.
Soundwave wasn't going to throw his life away on reckless stunts and half thought out plans. If anything, he'd need backup.
He'd help the group that he knew would appreciate him.
Wheeljack worked away on the Jackhammer, humming contently as he checked over the circuits and fixed any holes that happened in their last encounter with Soundwave and Laserbeak. It wasn't as damaged as he thought it would be.
Then again, he possessed armor that provided extra resistance to explosions and figured his ship might as well have the same.
It was a good idea, especially with the mishaps in the lab he used to have before he became a Wrecker. He enjoyed inventing, building stuff and blowing things up, often times on accident, but not always. He had his days.
It was most likely due to Wheeljack's past that the Wrecker enjoyed carrying around bombs at all time. Besides, explosions didn't faze him much any more. If anything, he was fond of how they turned out. Each was unique, up to a point at least.
Once he was done with the repairs, Wheeljack decided to clean his ship. It had been a while since the last cleaning had been done and he didn't have anything better to do.
Taking a break was nice and all, but he was really itching to go on his next mission. Hopefully it would be on Earth since he wasn't all that eager to be leaving the good doctor any time soon.
Sure he flirted shamelessly. Sure he came up with nicknames, but he wasn't expecting Sunshine to be worried about his well being. If anything, Wheeljack thought that the bot probably forgot or didn't care about him. He'd end up with the same results either way. If he had been seriously injured, Wheeljack would have been left for dead. Bulkhead might have been the only one to notice his disappearance.
Primus! Wheeljack didn't think the medbot would hunt him down, be worried and considerate enough to give him an entire checkup just to be sure he didn't bust any audio sensors or anything of the sort.
Ratchet was something else.
Wheeljack was glad that he came back to Earth, even more so that he decided that he'd stick around.
Ratchet dropped onto his berth, pressing his faceplate into the pillow as he attempted to get some recharge. It was a lot of hard work being a medic, so much of which relied on chance, timing, supplies and the usage of not only his mind, but also his hands in order to carry out what might end up being very delicate procedures.
So much rested on his shoulders. Not many even thought about what kind of pressures the head medic might be facing every day he hauled himself off of his berth to start the day. It could be the next day or even late at night that he might suddenly be called into the medbay. There was no guarantee that he'd be able to recharge or even have time to do so.
His life, especially as a field medic, could be so unpredictable. He never knew who would die and who would live for another orn.
He never knew if he was good enough.
It was ridiculous. Ratchet was known to be the best medic, but it didn't mean that he couldn't feel as if it was otherwise from time to time. After all, he still hadn't managed to fix Bumblebee's vocalizer.
Ratchet wasn't Primus and Primus wasn't a medic. He had to do the best he could and simply hope that it would be enough. After all, even a procedure performed perfectly didn't mean that the bot he worked on would make a recovery, let alone survive.
Ratchet just needed some recharge before the sun came up. It had been a long process of stabilizing Bulkhead and making the necessary repairs.
Ratchet rolled over and groaned in frustration at the knock at his door. He opted to ignore it.
The knock came back a little bit later, hushed but at the same time, impatient.
Realizing the bot wasn't going to go away anytime soon, Ratchet pulled himself to his peds, grumbling as he went to the door.
Wheeljack beamed at him, facemask retracted and looking as if he had gotten a good night of recharge.
Ratchet automatically envied him.
"Hey Sunshine. How about you and I go for a ride?" He nudged closer to the medbot, secretly putting his ped in the way of the door.
"Wheeljack, it's too early for this slag." Ratchet growled, commanding the door to close. He headed back to his berth only to realize that the door hit something.
"Oh come on Doc. Don't be like that." Wheeljack forced the door open from the crack that it had closed to. "If you don't want to ride, we could do something else."
Ratchet faced Wheeljack, thinking about how much sleep he was missing due to the overly awake wrecker. "I'm tired, 'Jack. Leave me alone."
Wheeljack's grin got even larger. Ratchet had a nickname for him. Granted it wasn't very creative, but still. It's not like Doc was a creative name either. Sunshine on the other hand… "I'll go only if you'll watch the sunset with me this evening." He walked in the room, waiting for Ratchet's reply.
Ratchet narrowed his optics at the intruder, frame tensing up. Ratchet pulled a wrench out his of subspace, fingers tightening around it in an unspoken warning.
One in which Wheeljack ignored.
Bulkhead shifted on a medbay berth. He had let Wheeljack in the base after foolishly listening to Jackie's plan on wooing the medic. Instead of going to his own berth, Bulkhead returned to the medbay, knowing the medbot would get upset if he didn't.
He absently thought about Wheeljack and wondered how well that brilliant plan was going when he heard the obvious signs that Ratchet was awake and not happy about it either.
Bulkhead groaned in frustration. He was incredibly clear with his advice that really, really should be followed when dealing with Ratchet.
For starters, don't frag the medic off.
Don't underestimate Ratchet in any way, shape or form.
Wrench? Get your aft out of there immediately.
Don't enter Ratchet's personal quarters unless you have permission, it's an emergency or you're good friends with him. Forcing yourself in will only frag him off.
Don't skip out on medical appointments.
Medic's orders are not and never will be a suggestion.
Don't doubt his knowledge or question his abilities. If Ratchet says you're fragged, you're fragged. If he says you're going to live, by Primus, you're going to live.
If he's not cursing while working on you, it's very serious.
Just because he's a medic doesn't mean Ratchet won't hit hard.
There were probably more things that Bulkhead simply didn't think about at the time. Either way, it sounded like Wheeljack fragged Ratchet off. He wondered what his friend did wrong.
Bulkhead could hear two bots colliding along with denting armor and overturned furniture. They obviously didn't care who heard.
The rest of the Autobots were awake now and gathered around the Ratchet's closed door. After they figured out that Wheeljack was in there too, they dispersed. It was in their personal interests to stay out of it.
Wheeljack's a Wrecker.
Ratchet's a medic.
They'd both live.
Hopefully.
Silence settled down upon the base, like a blanket of fog making everything seem more eerie than it already was.