More of a scene squirrel echoing a philosophy.

"Soundwave."

It was a low, dark voice that startled the Decepticon out of the offline stasis he was enjoying with his tapes encapsulated inside of him. The voice's source did not wait for a response, instead demanding he purge his tapes of their cozy recharge space and to move over. Soundwave was hesitant to wake them, but the glowing red optics in the dark demanded obedience.

"As you command, Megatron." He could hear the reluctant scraping of Laserbeak, as well as Frenzy's irritated whiney moan, both reminding him that they worked too hard today to be awakened like this. Not important. Rumble perceived the reason for their expulsion and herded the irritated Decepticons out into the next room.

Frenzy stared at the locked door they'd just passed through. "THAT'S how he got the extra energon to wake me up?"

Rumble didn't look up from the elaborate game he was setting up for the five of them to play as they waited. "What, did you think he just asked nice and Megatron gave it up?" Frenzy was not the smartest guy, which explained why he was second to last to be resurrected. "We were EARNED."

Awakening his beloved tapes had required more energon than the newly-online Decepticons could afford. With a bare minimum (and a large faith-loan from their leader) Soundwave brought back Laserbeak, Ravage, and Rumble. After 'working' off the faith-loan, at long last, the Decepticon tape player had been able to accumulate extra to bring back Buzzsaw and Frenzy. The latter of the two shuddered at the unreality of it.

"What do they DO in there?" he asked, to no one in particular.

A squawking noise from Buzzsaw suggested it was better he not speculate.

Megatron did not kiss. Kissing was a sign of surrender, of needing another. He needed no one. Instead he wordlessly pressed the white buttons at Soundwave's hips and allowed his optics to glow at the low groan it elicited. Soundwave did not touch him. Megatron did all of the touching, pressing his fingers in spots that riled the red energy field into a force to be reckoned with, giving him a rush of power in the ability to play this tape recorder to his own specifications. He was so cold, bland, inanimate...bringing him to life was an interesting game. If he were acting, Megatron didn't care. The reactions were priceless, real or feigned.

"Who do you love?" he hissed, looming overhead like the Death Star.

"I love you, mighty Megatron," Soundwave replied in his flat, monotonous voice. It was comical to hear such a humiliating phrase spoken so blandly.

"Excellent." Megatron laughed in his face, he didn't care. He knew why Soundwave did this. "Prepare for my entry."

"As you command, Megatron." His leader was a fast worker, making Soundwave wish he could actually ask him to do a few of the things wanted; however, this was not a mutual interaction. He heard the telltale transforming noise and caught Megatron before he hit the floor. His energy field flared slightly with the excitement of what he would do to this glorious ruler.

Gently pushing the 'eject' button, Soundwave placed the gun inside of his tape deck and closed the door, allowing his aroused energy field to infiltrate the silver mech completely.

"AUGH!"

Rumble grimaced, face buried in his gamepieces, as Ravage instinctively looked towards the door and the condors lowered their heads in embarrassment.

"AUGH!"

Frenzy saw that no one was jumping up to check on Soundwave, forcing him to conclude that these noises were par for course. It didn't make him feel any better.

"AUUUUUUUUUUUGH!"

Rumble motioned to Frenzy to shut his audiosensors off. "Talk through your interior radio."

"That's an illegal move," he grunted to Ravage as his piece went where it shouldn't have.

'He has diplomatic immunity," returned Rumble for him. "You'd know that if you were paying attention."

"How can ANYBODY pay attention-" he wanted to finish the transmission and found it too embarrassing. The others watched him fumble for the right phrasing in a sort of bemused contempt. Buzzsaw transmitted the opinion that soon it would be Frenzy's turn.

"My turn for WHAT?"

"We all do it," Rumble shrugged. "You gotta prove your loyalty somehow."

Laserbeak transmitted a message from Megatron, one that apparently every Decepticon had seen. It had began after he'd discovered Soundwave's ability to please him. To Frenzy's horror, he discovered that their leader was a jealous mech, one who demanded that they completely give themselves to the cause, to the point of only being with him for social interaction. It was called 'paying homage.' There was no pairing off; it was either Megatron or punishment.

No one seemed to object to this, except, Buzzsaw told him, for Starscream and the Constructicons. Starscream hadn't been forced to comply, for some puzzling reason, and the Constructicons hid from him enough to only see their leader when he needed them for more important tasks than debasing themselves.

"He's not bad," Rumble commented as he annexed and entire corner of the board. "Wildrider's more into the crazy stuff. I liked that. 'Till Starscream caught us and I had to help him with his last stupid takeover plan as blackmail."

So no one actually obeyed the mandate, except for those who had a death wish. Frenzy glanced at the door again, feeling sorry for himself. Megatron would never see him as anything more than chattel, another gun when the first failed. Something to play with when the fighting was over.

Ravage inserted his opinion that at least Soundwave wasn't being called into his throne room to service him, like those 'skanky' Stunticons. He said that to rile Rumble, who still thought of Wildrider with some chagrin. His teeth gleamed nastily in the light as he soundly defeated the periwinkle mech's four vital stations, watching him pretend not to care about either.

"He still pays Soundwave, since he was the first, but the minute he changes his mind, we're slagged. So DON'T make him mad."

The red light of Soundwave's energy field shot through Megatron with a hard, driving force. It excited his sensors and fired his circuits while giving him such a pleasant cooling affect the silver leader could barely contain his ecstasy. He screamed again as pleasure assaulted him.

'Now who loves you?' Soundwave was tempted to ask as he drove another spike of electrons into his leader. This task was like any other he would be bidden to perform, barring the uncomfortable forced intimacy. He did not like the silver mech so close to him, as though he were another tape. He did not feel that way about Megatron. The only part that truly upset his calm demeanor was the prompted expression of devotion. He hated it. As far as Soundwave was concerned, he'd shown his loyalty to the cause a thousand times over. Thinking about it made him angry again, causing another blast to strike the gun in his tape compartment.

The beams of his internal electrons were wearing him out, and after a few more flashes he was completely depleted. He apologized for ending the evening early, but his expression of regret was silenced. Megatron transformed and wobbled out, merely hissing the compliment of excellence before regaining his composure and stalking past the tapes who were so surprised to see him come out early they forgot to kneel. He paused at the door with a small purple rod glowing in between his extended fingertips.

"I shall no longer seek your company. When your services are required you will be summoned." The dark threat, one that ruined any sense of power Soundwave had over his situation, loomed with the angriest of glares as his leader exited quickly. How did he know that the only aspect enjoyable to the blue mech was that it was accomplished in the safety of his own chambers? Rumble caught the rod flung at them and presented it to a slowly sinking Soundwave.

Frenzy watched his master place the rod into his chest, inserting a plug powering up the one quietly contained in a recharge platelet. Ratbat's optics lit up as he slowly lifted his head and squeaked. According to Laserbeak, one more rod would bring him completely resuscitated. Ratbat drifted back offline and the tapes returned, except for the lingering Frenzy.

Soundwave never really changed expressions. His inner processes were a mystery to all of them because and in spite of the mask he wore, the one that kept his follower from discerning whether or not his leader was humiliated, joyous, relieved, or disgusted. He reached for a vibe and only found the pleasure one gets from a small favor done well.

"Boss?"

"Communicate, Frenzy."

"You don't have to do this." He did, actually, considering that no one would dare refuse Megatron, and even if Soundwave wanted to stop now, it would be like thinking breaks would bring you to a screeching halt in space. The trouble alone would not be worth it. Frenzy wasn't sure what he wanted to tell the large blue mech who had done this to bring them to life, but he hoped that he was saying it the right way, whatever it was. "We could come up with another way, maybe I could take up a collection or start trading different grades with the other guys or, or..." Soundwave shook his head, blank optics reflecting nothing but a warm feeling cascading into the small red and black tape.

"Sympathy appreciated." Frenzy was the mushiest of his minions only if Buzzsaw were not in the room. Buzzsaw kept his opinions to himself. Soundwave patted the mech on the head and opened the tape case to let him go back in to finish his recharge. Once he had, the mech stumbled back to his own plate, trying not to recall the nauseating declaration he'd been forced to utter. He decided to overlap it with a better one.

"Sympathy appreciated exponentially," he growled softly, turning his operations down as the welcome surge from his recharge plate took over.