To all my readers I apologize for the delay, I said this would be up dated on the 11 but school ya know and the unexpected (like my truck getting hit) got in the way. But this week I got really motivated to post because Lauren's birthday was this week and this was her birthday present. So Happy Birthday Lauren! I thank my mom for the thesaurus, this story would be really dull without it. "The text written like this is their telepathic discustions."
Disclaimer: I don't own Soundwave, Rumble, Frenzy, Laserbeak, Buzzsaw, or Ratbat.
For most cities, down town is active and lively; however, in an abandoned alley the atmosphere was still and quiet, in an awkward way. In the shadows, leaning against a brick building was Soundwave. He had his arms crossed. Even with a visor and mouth guard concealing his face, one could tell he was in deep thought. So much had happened in such a short amount of time, after losing the last of his power in the pawn shop he was suddenly reanimated at a fleshling's shelter, had his beloved tapes rescued from dismantling, supplied himself and his minions with energy before losing power again, and found a temporary hiding place. What a night! Yet through all this minor chaos he was unable to contact Megatron for backup cover. He concluded this to be highly unusual.
After he and Rumble fled from the meatbag's dwellings they chose a densely populated area in town but had high brick structures for cover. These buildings were pitiful, compared to the constructicons work. After taking his fair share of the energon cube and giving a little boost of energy to his dormant tapes, he released them. He allowed them and Rumble to gorge themselves on the rest of the cube. He was glad they were safe from the danger of losing status again. Ratbat sat on a chain link fence and every once in a while licked his chops; energon remnants stained his cheeks. Soundwave sighed to himself, he knew he had taught his youngest table manners, but for now he'd let it slide, there were more important matters.
Tap tap
Looking up, Laserbeak's head poked over the rim of his helmet to greet him. "Have you thought of our next move?" Her voice squawked in his head.
"No" came his monotone reply.
The metallic condor remained perched on his head as he resumed thinking. Buzzsaw had silently been perched upon a rusty fire escape ladder with a cold blank stare. Down at his feet the twins were getting fed up. Frenzy broke the stillness.
"All right already! None of us are about to fall over deactivated and you said yourself that there weren't any Autobots around. Let's do something!"
"Frenzy: Thinking, too irrational. Main Objective Still: Low Profile."
Rolling his optics Frenzy crossed his arms and whined, "Come on, can't we do a little destruction?" His brother began activating his pillar drives with anticipation.
"No, we will not draw attention to ourselves, we will keep trying to contact Megatron and obtain information. We are still on a spy mission and don't know our complete status." He hate to admit it but they were in a vulnerable situation.
The minicon slumped his shoulders and kicked a soda can at the wall; which happened to ricochet and smack Ratbat. The youngest gave a painful electronic squeal as he flapped over to Soundwave's head and cuddled next to Laserbeak. Frenzy earned a glare from the avian cassette. He shot the bird 'the bird'.
Removing himself from the building, Soundwave trudged his away down the alley, the twins followed. Stopping a couple of yards away he glanced back and gave a low whistle. The black and gold condor dropped from his perch and glided to his master's shoulder, still silent as wood. All made their way for the exit.
Weaving their way through the maze of alleys and abandon streets, the party reached a local square. Still remaining hidden in the shadows Soundwave took in his surroundings. The building next to them appeared to be an electronic store; the sign read 'Best Buy'. A plan suddenly began forming as he nudged his eldest, Rumble.
The plan was simple Soundwave transformed into tape player mode while Rumble snuck in the store through the back and placed Soundwave on a shelf to pickup any conversations on current national events, simple really. But the longer Soundwave sat on the shelf he noticed that the gadgets and technology were not of what he remembered. They were still inferior to cybertron machines but there was something……………
15 minutes later………..
The back door of Best Buy flung open accompanied by a flying tape deck that sailed into the dumpster. A cheering whoop sounded from inside as the door shut. All the cassettes had been parked near by watching the strange seen. Laserbeak glided over to the rim and fished out Soundwave.
"So how did it go boss?" Asked Rumble without looking up from the article he was attempting to read.
On the outside, the cassette player was silent but for the cassetticons a stream of cybertronean curses screeched through the comlink they shared with him.
"What happened in there?" squawked Buzzsaw. First time he showed any signs life.
The player rattled out and Laserbeak's beak and transformed next to the dumpster. "The humans discovered me."
"What! They found out you were a decepticon!"
"No, apparently my alternate mode does not camouflage among their gadgets."
Laserbeak only looked puzzled. "How? To them you look like an ordinary tape player that they use everyday."
"There weren't any in there, they labeled me as an out dated piece of machinery and said I was misplaced."
The three fliers' optics seemed to bug out at this statement. "Well Soundwave you are getting old, extremely old to human's standards," snickered Frenzy turning to his brother, "You did put him with the music players right?" An annoyed 'yes' came from behind the newspaper, Soundwave's visor glowed a deep crimson afore questioning all of them. "Do any of you know what an Ipod or MP3 Player is?" Now Frenzy joined the blank look association. Soundwave took that as a 'no'. The communications officer looked over at Rumble who was occupied with a newspaper. He mentally groaned at his minions habit of reading and saving the 'Funnies'; back at the base a bunch were pinned all over a wall. "Man 'Garfield' really stinks today and the 'Peanuts' aren't even in here. This new one, Zits, is okay. It's making fun of stupid teenagers like the one that hangs out with the Autobots," said Rumble out loud to no one.
Looking at one of the corners Soundwave could identify numbers. "Rumble, give me that newspaper."
Rumble cocked an optic, "Why, you never read them, you say they're a waste of time."
The larger con shot his hand down to the ground twitching his finger for him to hand it over. The indigo con turned his back and resumed at trying to translate 'Blondie'. Buzzsaw swooped down and snatched the paper in his bill. The two cons started a game of tug-a-war which ended quickly as the paper suddenly ripped. The condor deposited the contents in his master's waiting hand. Disappointed, Soundwave frowned at the mess; he didn't even get the part he wanted. "Rumble acquire more of these." Said con groaned and dragged his brother with him. Both soon returned carrying a newspaper box. A punch to the glass case and the box spilled its contents. Rumble quickly snatched one, rolled it, and stuffed it in the crook of his arm, "This one is mine!" Ignoring him, Soundwave, Ratbat, and Buzzsaw fanned the papers on the ground. He checked every one, all were the same. Holding one up to eye level he became eerily quiet. Laserbeak notice his awkward silence and perched on his shoulder. "What is it?" He pointed to the date, the bird's jaw dropped. "This has to be a joke!"
"What is the big deal?" yelled Frenzy from the floor.
The condor glance down at him, "How long do you think we've been in status lock?"
"I don't know, a couple of days………….. a week?"
"How about guessing 23 years."
He cocked an optic at her, "SAY WHAT! So it's like 1907?"
Laserbeak looked at him unsurely, "No, more like 2007, 3 plus 4 equals 7, 2 plus 8 equals 10, carry the 1, 1 plus 9 equals 10, carry the 1, 1 plus 1 equals 2. So 2007."
Sparks buzzed from Frenzy's head, accompanied by a bang and thin trail of smoke. "Argh, stop with the calculus math, it hurts my head."
"Obviously."
He bent down and picked a paper, sure enough, 2007 was printed in bold, black letters.
"So if we are in the future," cawed Buzzsaw, "And Soundwave can't pick up any Autobot or Decepticon energy signatures, do you think we are the last cybertroneans on Earth?"
"Or at all!" cried Ratbat.
A chill filled Soundwave's frame.
"No," came Rumble, "The Autobots are still here." He showed them the page and pointed to the picture of the Autobot force.
"Well, what does it say?" asked the red condor.
"I don't know, I can't read people language that well, I have trouble with just reading the comics, forget a paragraph; they use big words!"
She swooped down next to him, "Point them out."
"This one."
"Eradicate"
"Here"
"Environment"
"here"
"Catastrophe"
"and here"
"……….I ought to shoot you, you bolts for brains, Optimus Prime!"
"Thank you!" he chirped and continued reading.
The communications officer shook his head at their bickering. Buzzsaw looked up at his leader, "If the Autobots are still here and we have no where a bouts of the decepticons shouldn't we search a better refuge than this place."
"Ratbat sniffled, "Yaw, but where?"
Soundwave pondered on this. "We will return to the organ microbe's settlement where I was revived and hide there."
"There," screech Rumble, "No way, that thing was about to dismantle Frenzy, the beak brains, and squeaky!"
"Hiding there will give us numerous advantages, that human is the only one that knows of our presence, we will keep it that way and make sure it does not reveal our existence. The damage there is not large enough to draw the Autobots' attention and they would never suspect a Decepticon to return to the scene of the crime."
"Also," joined Laserbeak, "We interrogate it for information on the status of our war and on future culture."
"Like Ipods!" chirped Ratbat.
Soundwave nodded but Rumble interrupted, "Okay, but how are we going to get it to cooperate with our demands!"
"Threats work out nicely," sneered Buzzsaw.
Rumble couldn't argue with that but it was Frenzy's turn. "But you know if we threaten its life it, we can't follow through, it'll attract attention."
"We know, the human doesn't."
Good point, this might actually work.
"Besides," whimpered Ratbat, "It still has Ravage."
Soundwave's optics blinked, he couldn't believe that he hadn't realized the absence of the panther until now. All of them except Ratbat swivel their heads for the black cat.
"We're going back, that's FINAL!"
The twins groaned.
Hope yaw'll enjoyed it. Next update will be awhile, it'll be posted on my user page.
Ta ta for now.
