Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers

Betrayed

Chapter 3: Sunset

Author's Note: I'd like to thank BooLoo2, Fanfickisara and SethBlackwolf for the reviews. I greatly hope that the quality of this chapter is as good as the last two. This one definitely took longer than the others to write seeing how I got stumped numerous times and even rewrote a few of the scenes. As to SethBlackwolf's question, that's what my goal is, but alas, it's going to take a while. Or at least it should. Sorry about the delay in comparison to the last one. I'm mainly just glad that I finally finished this chapter.

This chapter has also been edited.

In the early hours of the morning, while the rest of the Decepticons tried sleeping off the incoming hangovers in less than convenient locations, Soundwave hunted down each and every one of them.

No one asked him to do it. Megatron didn't order him. He did it of his own free will. It was his way of setting everything back to how it was. It needed to be done and he was the only one in the proper condition to do it.

Soundwave was the mature bot. He was the responsible one. If the Autobots were to infiltrate the Nemesis, Soundwave would be the one to deal with them.

It was a tedious task. No one thanked him for his services. Some woke up with horror written on their faceplates. Either they didn't expect to see him or he just wasn't pleasant to see first thing in the morning. Soundwave had no idea as to which it could be since both were logical explanations to such a common reaction he had been eliciting this morning.

Once everyone was awake, he set a message to the crew.

All those who are late to their shift will be scrubbing the entire floor of the Nemesis with a human's toothbrush.

This was the first day in a long time that everyone was on time for their shift.

Soundwave was pleased with himself.

Megatron didn't agree.

"You know Jackie, I don't think this a good idea."

Wheeljack continued to grin, convinced that his newest idea was completely fail proof. "Oh come on Bulk, what's the worse that can happen?"

Bulkhead frowned, "If there's something I've learned about medics, especially the medic, is you don't try to fix them without proper training."

"Where's your sense of adventure?" Wheeljack gave his best friend a skeptical look, "Don't tell me Optimus tamed you. We're Wreckers, we do what we want."

"See? That's what I mean." Bulkhead crossed his arms, "I'm still a Wrecker, but this is Ratchet we're talking about. You're lucky I saved your sorry aft. He knows how to wield bots."

Wheeljack brushed the reasoning off as if removing a few stray dust particles. "I'm just returning a favor. He repaired me after all."

"But-"

Wheeljack interrupted, "Besides, I'm an inventor, engineer and a wrecker. It can't be that hard."

Soundwave didn't like where things were going. He had to explain to his leader who was experiencing the equivalent to a human hangover why it was that everyone was on time. Megatron wasn't in the best of moods and Soundwave was having difficulty convincing the Decepticon Leader that it wasn't some kind of conspiracy.

Megatron wouldn't listen to reason. It was like trying to negotiate with a rock. No matter what arguments Soundwave had to defend the crew, Megatron wouldn't budge. The only thing that would convince Megatron was if Soundwave spent most of his day interrogating each and every bot in question and then do it a second time to make sure he didn't miss anything.

It was then that Soundwave realized Megatron didn't trust him like he used to. Megatron was surrounded by bots who were untrustworthy or consistently failed to meet his expectations. As a result, he had forgotten that Soundwave was thorough in his job.

Soundwave brought back an artifact when the others failed.

Soundwave targeted Cybertron for the space bridge and kept it locked on, granted the bridge was destroyed, but that had nothing to do with Soundwave.

Why was he here?

Why did Soundwave put up with Megatron?

He tried coming up with reasons why he should stay in the Decepticon Ranks, but couldn't come up with one that made up for what he did while he stayed. It simply wasn't worth it.

Long ago, he was happy.

He enjoyed being Megatron's right hand mech.

He had Megatron's trust. Soundwave was his secret weapon, the last resort, and was considered one of the best cards in the deck on the Decepticon side.

Soundwave was a bot most were weary around and for good reasons.

He had been betrayed and now the time had come to put his plans into action.

With great care, he spoke his first words since the war started. His voice cracking with static from great disuse and he could feel his vocalizer straining with the effort. It wasn't like when he played recordings, no, this was his own actual voice. The voice he had forgotten. He knew he had to say this himself; the two simple words that would cause a drastic change in his life forever, "Soundwave: Defect."

Wheeljack wandered into the medbay with purpose to his stride. "Hey Doc, do you mind if I give you a servo?"

Ratchet glanced over, measuring Wrecker's worth with unamused, blue optics. "You? Help me?"

"Of course, Doc. There's nothing to it." Wheeljack came closer to Ratchet, examining a wound he had caused in the heat of the moment.

"Nothing to it? Wheeljack, I've been a medic far longer than Optimus has been a Prime. You can't just pick up the skills to repair when all you've been doing is destroying."

"Oh Sunshine, don't be like that. I haven't always been a Wrecker. I know how to build things too." Wheeljack scooted closer, servo coming closer to the wound, hesitating as if silently requesting permission to touch. "Trust me."

Ratchet met Wheeljack's optics, searching, but for what, neither could say. Time passed slowly, the two locked into position until Ratchet spoke. "'Jack, be careful." Ratchet shifted his position, giving Wheeljack better access to the last remaining wound he had, a deep cut in his leg, though it wasn't too terribly serious.

Wheeljack grinned, mask sliding into place as he reached for the tools. He could feel himself getting somewhat nervous at the prospect.

What if he didn't do it right?

What if Ratchet never let Wheeljack touch him again?

But if he succeeded…

The possibilities were endless.

Ratchet watched those black hands shift over him, steady but slightly uncertain. He'd let the Wrecker give it his best shot. If things got out of hand, Ratchet would intervene. He already planned on checking over the repairs once Wheeljack left to make sure everything was how it was supposed to be.

He had to admit, it was relaxing not to be in charge of his own repairs for once, not that he'd tell Wheeljack that.

He shifted once more, getting into an even more comfortable position.

Ratchet felt his frame grow heavy, slowly powering down in preparation for recharge.

"Doc? Did you want to check it out before I wield it shut?"

Ratchet abruptly forced himself out of his initiated recharge sequence. He took a good look at Wheeljack who shifted slightly under the scrutiny. His gaze dropped to the wound, circuitry neatly repaired, not a wire out of place. "Good."

Wheeljack's optics brightened, proud of his achievement as he nodded once in acknowledgement before grabbing the wielder.

Ratchet smiled, glad to know that the Wrecker knew how to do things other than flying recklessly and playing with explosives.

Flying away from the Nemesis, regardless of the Vehicons and gunfire in general, had been one of the best moments of Soundwave's life. His spark felt like it was floating among the clouds, as light as a feather.

He hadn't realized how much of a cage being with the Decepticons had become. It was constricting, controlling his movements and even to some extent, his own thoughts.

He thought about the overall good of the Decepticons every time he considered getting upgrades, weighing in the pros and cons. Would he benefit more from getting the parts, or would the parts be better off saved for a bot who needed it more. Should he cut back on his energon ration to make the energon supplies last longer?

Soundwave could now do whatever he wanted. He was now completely free. Soundwave didn't have to worry about anyone else but Laserbeak and himself.

Getting away from the rest of the Decepticons in pursuit had been tricky, but not impossible.

Unfortunately, he sustained injuries, but nothing that was life threatening. With enough recharge and energon, his auto repair systems would be able to fix the problems itself.

He sailed through the clouds, large, white and fluffy. It felt so nice to just relax, to fly about with no hurry and no immediate destination. Soundwave hadn't flown like this since he first learned how to fly. He always had somewhere intended, some direction that he must go in.

Soundwave was almost at a loss of what to do next, regardless of his planning. Perhaps just flying around like this, enjoying his time in the sky, would be good enough goal for now.

Wheeljack was enjoying himself. He had finally gotten Ratchet out of the base, with not only reasoning which could be classified as a bunch of slag he made up and Optimus's support that the medic needed to take a break.

So here he was, riding along the smooth, paved roads of the desert. He knew the perfect place to bring Ratchet. Sure it would have been easier to use a ground bridge or even the Jackhammer, but he chose to go by road. It was longer, but it was a way to make sure the medic could take this opportunity to stretch.

It had been a while since Ratchet had last been for a long ride in his vehicle mode.

Feeling mischievous, he slowed down, matching Ratchet's pace so he was along side the medic. Doing a mental count down, he bumped into Ratchet. "Tag, you're it." Just like that, Wheeljack shot forward, as fast away from Ratchet as he could.

Ratchet, determined, hurried after the Wrecker, pushing himself to his limits. Wheeljack had an advantage of having an alt mode that was made for speed. However, it wasn't going to stop Ratchet.

In mid flight, Soundwave was alerted to two Autobot signals nearby. Checking his scanners, he hesitated slightly before deciding that this might be his only chance and he might as well take it.

He found himself slightly nervous. This would be yet another deciding factor.

Soundwave couldn't make an accurate prediction as to what would happen. He wasn't even sure if the Autobots would listen to him.

Frag.

Soundwave knew he was forgetting something.

How would he communicate with them?

There were too many options to choose from.

Ratchet plopped down, chassis heaving as he viciously cycled air to cool down.

Wheeljack wasn't much better.

It was a good thing that no one was on the roads. It made matters easier for Ratchet and Wheeljack to have their fun. It was safer this way and humans couldn't stare at the two, wondering why an Ambulance and a Lancia were out in the middle of nowhere going at speeds even cops would gape at.

Once the two were cooled back down, Ratchet started laughing, a hardy chuckle that sounded more relaxed than usual.

Wheeljack joined Ratchet, the two of them basking in the moment as the sun started to go down, painting the skies in pinks and purples.

Ratchet didn't even notice the Cybertronian on his radar before it was too late.

Wheeljack stopped, realization that they were being watched. He pushed himself to his peds, Ratchet following suit.

Wheeljack pulled out his cannon, trying to figure it out and still be able to defend himself in the process. It wasn't often nowadays that a Cybertronian went about without a faction modulator turned on.

Judging from the signal, it was a Neutral, but as far as they knew, Neutrals didn't live on Earth.

A soft thud of peds landing Ratchet caught the attention of both of them. Tentacles wrapped around the medic, securing him before taking off again.

Wheeljack watched with horror as Ratchet was carried away. If he tried to shoot, he'd hit Ratchet. He transformed and chased after the jet, pushing himself as fast as he could go to no avail. The jet didn't have to maneuver around the landscape and on uneven surfaces.

Wheeljack was loosing ground. The jet had the advantage.

Even though he was often reluctant to do so, Wheeljack commed headquarters. He needed to get a bridge to the base and then to the Jackhammer that way he could get to Ratchet. Going on land just wouldn't cut it.

He transformed, awaiting the ground bridge. Wheeljack clenched his servos into fists, watching Soundwave carry Ratchet away.

He'd get Ratchet back, even if it was the last thing he did.