Unlike Rumble and Frenzy, Soundwave's other simbiots, especially flyers, almost didn't have any limitations in entrance to different part of the Decepticon base. They were counted more like beasts, like pet - loyal servants of their master. As long as they didn't bring any annoyance, Megatron didn't mind their presence. And that was enough.
A condor transformer flew in the command centre. He made a circle high in the air and landed at the back of Decepticon leader's throne. The roof of the room was high, walls were covered by screens and typing pannels by their side, Drons working on each of them. Same as in most of Decepticon base's parts, it was darkly inside, while blue and white light coming from the screens was slightly illuminating the place. The War Lord was sitting in his throne, chin leaned on his servo, attention turned to the huge screens in front of him. His optics were narrowed, as he attentively listened to Shockwave standing by the screens.
Starscreem was at his leader's left, his servos crossed at his back, attention turned towards the screens aswell. The Decepticons' Second in Command rolled his optics seeing Soundwave's pet landing at his leader's thron. The fortune made him the gratest present by geting rid of this 'faceplateless Drone'. Soundwave was the one he hated the most, this 'Con was the only Decepticon, except Megatron, of course, that he could't control. The Communication Officer was also the Third in Command and, although being lower raked then Starscreem, it was always the seeker, who felt being watched. But Soundwave, or better say his skills were valued by Megatron, and the seeker had to admit on that. Still, Starscreem could have been called anything but not a fool, that was one of his reasons being The Second in Command. He knew that you should watch for the quite ones and their simbiots... They were Soundwave's optics and audience. Strascreem knew why the bird was here.
"Report me as soon as you get some progress in the project, Shockwave."
"Of course my Lord."
"You may leave." the scientist respectfully nodded and made his way out, Lazerbeak's angry optics not taking their attention from him. Shockwave looked at the condor just for a cklick and then ignored the gaze. This Decepticon was skilled and clever. If there was someone able to handle Soundwave's job, it would be Shockwave. For now, he was valued as a scientist but Lazerbeak knew that he was a threat.
The bird looked at Megatron, who seemed a bit bored so condor decided to use the moment.
"Lord Megatron, excuse my curiosity, but are there any news about Soundwave?" Lazerbeak stooped down his long neck closer the Decepticon leader's helm.
"Not yet, Lazerbeak. But everything is under control." Control?! What kind of control is that?! "But...I was informed that-"
"Soundwave can take care of himself for now. We'll deal with Autobots as soon as we get a chance." Megatron stated cutting bird's sentence.
"But-"
"Do you suspect you master's strength?" the voice was becoming irritated.
"Of course no, my Lord." Lazerbeak signed silenced. There seemed to be no use in this conversation. Megatron wouldn't even listen.
"If you simbiots are so concerned about your master, why haven't your twin and this useless femmling bat prevent Soundwave from being captured. They should have worked better and now we are, who has to deal with rescueing your master." If looks could offline, Starscreem's spark would be blown out already. The seeker accused two simbiots, while the fact that others didn't bother to help the highly ranked officer, of course, was forgotten to be mentioned. In addition, did he just call Ratbat useless?! She was like a younger sister for them and, although, the femmling could get on Lazerbeak's nerves sometimes, noone could talk about her this way!
"And what did others do to prevent the Communcation Officer from being taken hostage? They were following your orderes, commandor."
"You dare to blame me, bird!?"
"Enough!" Megaton roared making both flinch."If you are going to argue with a simbiot, Starscreem, then do it somewhere else." this made the two silence but now it was Starscreem to impale Lazerbeak with his gaze. 'I am just losing time here' the condor thought and took up in the air leaving the command centre. He hoped that Ravage managed to find anything usefull. Soundwave needed them and he wasn't going to just sit and wait for Decepticons to start acting.
Decepticon prisoner was being led thruogh the corridors again. Saying that the interrogation went bad wouldn't be enough. Soundwave could still feel the pain in her helm and soaring damages, which appeared after Ironhide's strong punch. But she had been ready for this, especially after playing the provocative recording that made the warrior lose his temper.
They made it clear- she had her last try. Since Soundwave wasn't going to tell them anything, she decided to at least show her idea about Autobots' true way of doing business. She knew that their patience ended and was ready for facing them. But the plan changed when 'Bots heard that broken the clamp of her visor let out some compressed air. Soundwave wasn't prepared for what happened next. They took her visor off and with that they found out the secret, she has been hiding for so long.
The moment Jazz gave an idea of taking her mask made the femme lose control. Soundwave showed her weakness and paid for it. Still, she understood that they would have taken the visor off, even if she hadn't shown any reaction.
Of course, being surrounded by your enemies wasn't the most comfortable situation; still, them not having the ability to see her emotions made the femme feel more confident. When the visor was taken, Soundeave wished she could vanish. She wasn't good at hiding her emotions. Actually, she never needed to be, as the visor was doing this job perfectly well. Without her masks he femme just didn't know how to act, how to hide herself from them. That made her afraid. It was the first time Soundwave felt so unprotected. One more thing femme couldn't believe was that she let drops of cooler escape her optics.
They all saw it.
Her being able to feel, to be confused, to be scared... Her being fragile. Like being the femme wasn't enough...
Thanks to Optimuse Prime, the visor was returned...Why? She had no idea. Soundwave was more then surprised when Jazz was ordered to give it back. Yes, they took her visor in the first place, but she felt glad to have her faceplate protector back. Otherwise, the femme would have to continue facing them without it.
When Optimuse started questioning her there wasn't need to hide the truth. Lying wouldn't change anything. But Soundwave was surprised again because the only thing Autobot leader asked was if Megatron or anyone else knew. She could clearly seen that Autobots were astonished. May be Prime decided to stop questioning to develop another method of interrogation. May be they would use racket... May be Soundwave could use their shock as her advantage...
Soundwave understood that nothing would be the same now. But this wasn't the end.
One thing she was sure about. It wasn't long before Megatron finds out the truth. He scorned femmes telling that they were weak creatures. The only thing he admitted was that they were able to distract mechs making them weak as well. Soundwave wasn't weak. Actually, she was the brightest refutation of Megatron's idea. She couldn't be sure what The War Lord's reaction would be. But if he loses his temper, her simbiots will be the first to face him. Soundwave wouldn't let that happen. Femme didn't have much energy, but it was going to be lower. She needed to act fast.
Soundwave remembered walking through this corridor when 'Bots took her for questioning. There would be a small electricity controlling pannel... Soundwave looked around not moving her visor so Autobots wouldn't notice. There were several doors, while entrances to other corridors would be later. If she was correct, the second one was leading to the lounge where she should be able to find another hall leading to the main entrance of the base. Soundwave remembered this from some base plans, which Lazerbeak and Buzzsaw once managed to get, but she knew that the plans weren't perfectly correct.
She will have to improvise.
Servocuffs were still on, but ,being a highly ranked officer, Soundwave knew several ways to get rid of them.
The twins were aiming at femme's back not leaving their optics from the 'Con. Soundwave needed to distract three Autobots surrounding her.
As they were passing the illumination controlling panel, Decepticon suddenly collapsed on the floor.
The three activated their blasters surprised by what has just happened.
"What's wrong?!" Sunstreaker nervously asked his brother.
"I think he's out." Sideswipe said lowering his blaster.
"You meant 'she'." Sunny corrected and realized how weird his words sounded. They still weren't used to the crazy idea of Soundwave being a femme... Autobots didn't have apportunity to exchange their thought about this situation because Optimuse's conversation with Soundwave was too short. They didn't have enough time to deal with their surprise, let alone to talk about the situation...
"Quite, you two." ordered Ironhide, deactivating his blaster and kneeling to have a better look at the 'Con, while Soundwave was motionlessly lying on her right side.
"Looks like you punched him-... her too hard." Sunstreaker reminded about what had happened not long ago, but he was silenced by Ironhide's gaze. The Weapon Expert returned his attention to the femme, not being sure what to do. Hothead could be right... He punched the 'Con hardly enough, but now it appeared that Soundwave was a femme, and this information made him feel guilty. Believing that the so called hardsparked Desepticon Communication Officer was now helplessly, like a weakened youngling lying in front of him was so unthinkable. And Soundwave being her, being a gentle creation - a femme... Too many questions were appearing in the processor.
The way Ironhide imagined Soundwave's personality turned upside down.
He let it go for now and He pressed the bottom on his helm.
At the way to the Command centre.
"So... How did it go?" Ratchet met Optimuse on their way to the Command centre. He hadn't heard about what happened during the questioning process yet, but looking at his friend, medic could say that something went wrong. "Soundwave didn't talk, did he? Have you mentioned that Megatron wasn't going to retrieve him soon?"
"No. We were going to... But..." Optimuse stopped walking and looked at his friend. "Ratchet, when you scanned Soundwave's damages... Did you notice something unusual?"
Ratchet raised his opticbrow "Well, no. Nothing weird, why are you asking?"
"And wasn't there anything strange in the protoform structure?" Prime continued.
"Protoform itself wasn't seriously damaged; I didn't even need to take the armor off." Ratchet knew Prime too well, and it was clear that something was troubling his friend's processor. "Optimuse, why are you asking this? What happened?"
"The questioning went not as we expected... Ironhide lost his temper and punched Soundwave in helm breaking the clamp in the visor. Jazz suggested taking it off, and Soundwave finally reacted but refused to talk... We took the visor off."
"You did!? So?" Ratchet was more then surprised. Soundwave was the Decepticon, whom you couldn't imagine without his visor - it was like 'Con's real faceplate. Being one of the most known Desepticons, Soundwave could also be called the most mysterious one. Of course Ratchet didn't believe in 'Con not having a faceplate under his mask, he knew that was impossible but still, Soundwave without the visor seemed a bit strange.
"Soundwave is a femme." Optimuse decided to do it short. Ratchet looked at Prime and blinked two times. He stayed still for several seconds and gave a short laughter.
"Hah, Optimuse! Nice one. I was close to believe you!" still with a smile on, he suddenly freezed seeing Prime's 'this-wasn't-a-prank' look and medic's optics widen giving his faceplate a silly expression.
"You aren't kidding, are you?"
Optimuse signed "I wish I did."
"S-soundwave - a femme? But… Primuse! How's that possible?!"
"Incredible, right? You should have seen faceplates of others when Jazz managed to take the visor off." Optimuse slightly smiled remembering the momment and continued walking with Ratchet at his left.
"But how didn't my scanners detect that? She must have a special programming to prevent the correct scanning...Wait! Does Megatron know?!"
"He doesn't. Mirage checked the scanners - her answer was true. Only her simbiots are awarded."
"Well, they are her simbiots... What is it, Ironhide?" Ratchet was cut by recieving a call from the warrior.
"Ratchet we need you at the P7.4 corridor."
"What happened?"
"Soundwave. 'Con just collapsed on the floore!" medic mommentally stoped his optics widened in surprise.
"What did you do to her!?" Ratchet snapped with an angry voice.
"That's not me! Wait? You already know?"
"Ironhide!"
'I'm telling you, she just crashed! Looks unconscious, I'm not sure.'
"Don't move her. I am coming."
Back in the corridor P7.4
Sunstreaker kneeled and looked at Soundwave "May be we should take the visor off..." and the moment he was going to do so, Ironhide catched his servo. Yellow armored bot tried to look in displeased warrior's optics as ingenuously as he could.
"Do not. Even. Think about it." Ironhide warned narrowing his optics.
"Why not?" the younger one tried again.
"You are not touching this visor. We are waiting for Ratchet."
"Come on Hide... Don't you want to see her faceplate again?" Sideswipe, who was standing by their side crossed his servos and questionably looked at older warrior.
"No interest."
Red armored Autobot gave him a look of disbelieve as Sunstreaker rolled his optics hearing Hide's unconvincing answer.
"Ow! Don't be- agh!?" Two yellow and black armored Autobots felt a hard punch in their faceplates and losing balance collapsed on the floor. They onlined their optics just to see Sideswipe landing on their helms and a shadow flash by side. A click, and the figure was already by the wall, and the next moment sharp digits pierced the cover sheet of the electricity controlling panel. Sparks rushed, the illumination started blinking and the corridor went dark, the only light coming from some sparks still shining by the panel.
"Where's 'Con?" Sunstreaker jumped glancing through the darkness, his optics and activated blaster shining in the gloom.
"She fooled us!" Sideswipe snapped standing up on his peds.
"Prawl! Turn on the alarm! 'Con escaped!" Ironhide roared trough the comlink and siren filled out the base.
This one was longest for now) Thanks for your comments, everyone). I tried to give as much answeres as I could.
It might not be very thrilling chapter, sorry for that((
How do you think, is Soundwave going to manage to make off the base?
Your ideas are waited for!))))))
