Ch 7

The dreary, monotonous days passed so slowly. Had she been there two weeks so far? Three? Maybe more or less but nothing seemed routine anymore. Confined to one room was beginning to take a toll and drive her crazy. Living quality had taken a turn for the better since she found a few metal scraps to piece together around her 'toilet' which was more of a bowl shaped depression and pouring water down a pipe like they did in rural Asia. Where the water went? She didn't know, and didn't want to think about it. Into the atmosphere she imagined.

Certainly, she had lost weight, not a ton, but enough to notice that her stomach was flat and her pants had extra room in the butt. The canned soups had become tasteless and she dreamed of hot water, tea or coffee. She wished she could work on her fading tan, and missed the sunshine. Canned soups weren't meeting her nutritional demands and she had been feeling slightly off. She wondered if she was engaged enough with Soundwave to ask for a few minutes in the sunshine. Unfortunately, being in constant jeopardy of somehow making the giants angry, she had yet to do so, but maybe today was the day.

Lately, she was entertaining herself through ripping the labels off the used cans and making a privacy curtain out of them for over her cleansing area just in case. Soundwave had yet to walk in on her during a private moment, even though scrap had been used for two small walls, peering down for him was easy. The walls were only about 9 feet high but just enough so she felt only a small security inside of them.

It was only two days until her second evaluation with MECH and she was still in the middle of decoding the U.N's second letter. It was in a completely different coding sequence as the last one and was taking her a longer time to do. She had become frustrated with it and was having a hard time concentrating, so she was taking a small break after her lunch to clear her head and attach the soup labels together with some string she had unthreaded from the bag that Ann packed for her.


On the bridge of the ship, Megatron was in the process of sending out a team to collaborate with the Australian government in order to start digging for new-found deposits of energon. Four miners and Dreadwing were to be deployed on Megatron's command once they got the green light.

"Soundwave, send Laserbeak with them, they will need unprecedented back up for obvious reasons."

Megatron commanded.

Soundwave deployed Laserbeak from his chest and his pet flew around the bridge room, waiting to leave with the other Decepticons.

"And Soundwave, I have another situation," Megatron continued. Soundwave knelt deeply before his master and stood again.

"I need you to keep an eye on the east MECH base for anything out of the ordinary. The scanners picked up unusual activity there and I'm afraid we missed the memo." His upper lip lifted in disgust and his eyes were motionless on the screen in front of him. Soundwave acknowledged and he started immediately to prepare for his spy duty in a small area of West Virginia. Both him and Laserbeak were to be occupied when Kirsten was due for her next meeting with MECH, and with the potential of an attack coming soon, he needed to stay alert on her interactions. He began to calculate other options.


Kirsten was back working at her station when Soundwave came in again, hastily making his way to the computer, downloading, analyzing, learning, spying. Kirsten glanced a few times at his screen but she barely understood anything it was depicting, he went too fast. She was beginning to be quite intrigued by Soundwave. She wondered what it would be like to be 18 feet tall, have access to anything on a foreign planet, be able to have all kinds of uninhibited power. Power to use at her own disposal.

She shook her head from these thoughts. She reminded herself of MECH, power hungry, she didn't want to be associated with the way they operated. But what if they were doing a good favor to the world? What of these Decepticons and their agenda? She shook those thoughts from her head too. This wasn't a time to analyze, she needed to figure this code out for herself as much as the Decepticons. She was making decisions for the future of her own life now.

She noticed a lack of sound from the room. There were no hums or blips or ticks...Soundwave had suddenly stopped his work and stood in silence.

It was uncharacteristic of Soundwave to be completely still like that, Kirsten thought as she looked up at him, wondering what was going on. He stood still for several moments, the symbols on his screen halted along with himself. Kirsten quickly went back to decoding on her own computer for fear that he would notice her, noticing him, but curiosity and human nature was starting to beat her. Kirsten couldn't help but be interested...

She looked with her eyes only, at the screen, trying to seem as if she wasn't looking at all. She could read the symbols slowly and somewhat accurately because of the stopped action. The symbols were only bits of information, not leading to a distinctive conclusion, but what she could make out of them were : 24: testing: wires: Mech: three: nuclear cannon: meeting: mountains: and some more numbers and equations. She watched as Soundwave finally dipped his head, looking as if he was deep in thought.

Kirsten started ticking away on her keyboard, a little cautious and noticing of his unresponsive demeanor. She tried not to show that she was watching him and quite suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, his sharp hand came out of nowhere and latched onto her right hand. She yipped in surprise, her heart pounded and her eyes became paralyzed in terror. Was he going to reprimand her again for something? She was pretty sure she had been awake this whole time.

Soundwave jerked her hand forward and leaned closer to her arm for a closer inspection. He rotated her arm up and down, flipping to analyze both sides. Kirsten stayed placed in her seat while she watched Soundwave investigate her right arm, gripping the seat with white knuckles.

He noted that her blood pressure increased dramatically when he took a hold of her appendage and started flipping it about. His visor finally showed something she could understand.

:H202-35%-AlHCo3-.001%-40%-3000AMP-CoTiX30ppm:

No, she couldn't understand that. What was he doing? She expressed concern in her face and held tightly to the chair. Soundwave flipped her hand palm up and then slowly brought his other hand forward and tapped lightly on her wrist. The result of what came from a wild day in the surf, her broken wrist, and a plate of titanium.

"My wrist fusion?" she asked. Kirsten understood now but what did he want to use it for? He took his slender, sharp finger and ran it down the length of her scar while delicately still holding her arm in place. He then showed an equation and a layout of complex circuitry through his visor. He wanted to embed personal Cybertronian spy technology in her plate?

"No way.." she said under her breath. He wanted to write codes into the metal plate, but still, she wondered, for what.

"Why?" she asked. Soundwave didn't answer that question and he stood tall again and started to walk out of the room, motioning for her to follow. She looked back at her computer screen, but she was in the middle of this...so she reluctantly saved her progress. She then quickly gathered her guts about her and trembled down the stairs, sprinting over to the door to catch up with him. Before she could think, a singular tentacle was wrapping itself around her whole body starting from the waist down. She tripped into the long cord and gasped at the warm, smooth metal suddenly lifting her as it wrapped her in it's coil.

She placed her hands on the top cord for stability, it felt like snake skin in her palms, kind of textured and kind of not, but very smooth. She was then transported in the air behind Soundwave as he made his way to Knock Out's annex.

The corridors were long and dark to Kirsten. Every guard they passed seemed to scurry out of Soundwave's path. She knew that he was a high-ranking and well respected mech. Kirsten began to feel that his presence was both powerful and ominous to even the crew members of the ship, a presence that she had grown to respect and adapt to.


In Knock Out's workroom, the operating room, Soundwave communicated his plan to the doctor, and he threw a fit.

"You want me to do what?!" Knock Out complained to Soundwave, throwing a tool on the ground. "That's just too far, you're putting way too much trust in her!" he retorted.

Soundwave thrust his chest out and then held out his hand, curling his fingers towards him and displayed a depiction of the Resonance Blaster on his visor, requiring it back if he didn't do this job.

"Ugh, seriously?" Knock Out rubbed his face slightly and scowled. "You drive a hard bargain, Soundwave." Knock Out then looked at Kirsten, he glared, remembering their last encounter. Kirsten avoided eye-contact with him, still not in the loop as to what was about to transpire. Soundwave slowly turned Kirsten over to Knock Out, placing her on a large metal table and sending him the exact circuits, installments, and codes he wanted written into the plate.

"Alright, give me... oh...an hour or two." Knock Out said to Soundwave and turned his back to him. Soundwave crossed his arms and stood behind him stubbornly. Knock Out didn't like working in the company of others, having Soundwave loom behind him was...disturbing.

Knock Out sighed loud and flung himself around to face him."Soundwave you know I was just joking earlier, right?! You really don't trust me alone with her?"

Soundwave shook his head. Knock Out could probably be trusted, but Soundwave didn't want to take the chance of him botching up the job because of his disrespectful demeanor towards her, whether it be species or gender related. He needed her as his tool, and was willing to waste an hour or two of his time to make sure everything met his high standards.

"Fine." he said sternly. "I suppose I should be used to the company...you act the same way when I work on Laserbeak." he shook his head offensively and detached a tube in the wall and brought it to Kirsten's face. She jerked away in defense.

"What's that!" she demanded, unable to control her self-defense mechanism.

"Relax, gas, unless you want to be awake through the whole procedure." Knock Out smirked tauntingly, "To be honest, I'd take it if I were you. Not just for yourself, but do it for me too, your squeaky high-pitched voice is bad enough at a low volume, I couldn't imagine it as a scream." He rolled his optics as he spoke, once again reminding her that he absolutely loathed her.

Knock Out backed off when he heard Soundwave signal from his visor that his time was being wasted. He 'tched' and grabbed the back of Kirsten's head, not so gently, and shoved the tube in her face without warning. She struggled away from the tube but he had a firm hold of her. Her struggles became weaker and weaker until she struggled no more.

Later...

Kirsten drearily opened her eyes. She was out of focus and felt sick to her stomach. Her arm felt even worse. She began to hear Knock Out's voice become audible and comprehensible as she regained consciousness.

"Locator system working... audio transmitter functional...system statistics normal...atmospheric censor...functional." Knock Out was repeating the program monitor being transmitted from her arm. "Looks like everything is working properly." Soundwave nodded and then checked his own monitor dispatch system, making sure it connected to hers. All information looked good.

Kirsten slowly came to and felt the urge to vomit immediately. She gagged and then threw up on Knock Out's table.

"Hey, hey! No!" Knock Out turned at the sound and yelled. "Well that's just great!" Knock Out yelled, "What a disgusting carnal reflex."

Kirsten lowered her head while she coughed up the rest. She was shaky and cold. He was such an asshole. She wondered what they did that was just as disgusting to her, but she couldn't think of anything. She sat up on her haunches and felt her forehead. It felt good to put her cold hands on her warm face, she felt slightly dewy to the touch too. She noticed the small scar where they had opened her up. It looked exactly the same as it did before except a little red and irritated. She took a closer look at it, amazed by the exact craftsmanship.

"How..did you.." she choked out.

"I'm a really good doctor." Knock Out said, anticipating the question. He then started to clean up the table taking a laser torch and dissipating the blood and vomit, "Even with these less than superior tools on this ship."

Knock Out took the opportunity to glance at Soundwave, who was still standing in the same place. As he had worked intricately on her wrist, Soundwave kept a close watch, and having opened up plenty of humans before Kirsten, Knock Out knew exactly what he was doing and intended on letting Soundwave know that. He never wanted his good work to go unnoticed. Knock Out nodded his way in a conclusive and mutual understanding before a transmission from Megatron on the screen requested for Soundwave to report to him immediately. Soundwave faced Knock Out and uncrossed his arms.

"I will return her once she is stable," Knock Out replied with a groan, openly protesting his discomfort at taking responsibility for her.

Soundwave left the room quickly, and without sound. Knock Out turned back to face the human on his table, still obviously bothered by her presence.

Kirsten looked around his room, all the tools were meticulously organized and he kept the place pretty clean. Would it be wise to initiate small conversation?

"I guess I don't get what he sees..." Knock Out said randomly. "But he has his methods." he spoke as he was putting away his tools, "No matter how inferior those methods may be." He may have been talking to himself, but Kirsten took the insulting cue.

She rolled her eyes and curled her lips hostilely at his words. He caught her doing so at a glance and he angrily slammed his hands down on both sides of her, shuddering a vibration through her whole body.

"And don't think you are above all the rest! Because let's make this clear..." Knock Out barked in her face, "You, are still below me. You need to act like it! I don't care if you're Soundwave's human accomplice. You. Are. Still. A. Meaningless. Human. You are deceptive, cunning creatures and I don't trust you. Any of you!" Knock Out had finished his rant expecting to argue some more to her response. He looked to her, waiting, wanting for her to just say the very first wrong thing so he could bark back.

"Come on! Anything? Don't you have SOMETHING to say?" He prodded.

Kirsten started to not take his insults too personally. He didn't necessarily talk in reference to just her, but of all humans in general."Not really." She finally said softly.

Knock Out, taken aback by her submissive response became agitated. "What? Why not!" he was obviously just looking for a fight, and she wasn't about to give in, not like last time.

"Mmph," she gurgled, rubbing the irritated wrist.

"No, don't go messing up my craftsmanship, alright?!" Knock Out scolded and swatted her hand away from the other arm. He watched her flex her hand, trying to work past the post-operative feelings. He frowned, wondering what exactly it felt like. The other humans he'd worked on eventually ended up dead because of his roughness. He didn't care, but Kirsten was different because of Soundwave. His curiosity overrode his distaste.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"Itchy." Kirsten responded after hesitating.

"I don't know 'itchy'.." Knock Out spat, "I knew I shouldn't have asked..."

"Well.." Kirsten started, "You feel pain, right?" Knock Out said nothing back in response but focused his eyes closer on her face, waiting for her to explain herself, "It's not pain, but it's unpleasant, like pain, and it makes you want to scratch the place that itches."

Knock Out frowned for a few seconds and then let out an thoughtful 'hmph', as if he was indeed listening, trying to understand. "Sounds like static. Doesn't hurt, but it's definitely not pleasant." He began returning his tools to the wall they hung on. Kirsten was overjoyed inside. They had an actual discussion that wasn't hostile.

"That's the first time I've ever done anything like that." Knock Out sneered in her direction, "I still can't process Soundwave's intentions. The very notion of an indigenous creature with our superior technology...tch." Well, the absence of hostility was short but good while it lasted, "Humans and your quest for OUR innovations."

"Wait. No. I didn't ask to be here." Kirsten decided with that statement that she needed to defend herself slightly because he was wrong. Besides, Soundwave needed her, what could Knock Out do when Soundwave had authority over him? "This was Soundwave's idea, not mine. I don't want any part of your technology!" Her voice quivered with courage and honesty, her tone making Knock Out swing around in surprise at her outburst, "I don't seem to have a choice! But..." She huffed.

Knock Out squinted her way, and listened intently to her words "...But...?" he echoed her.

"But... here I am." She said, plain and simple. She shrugged her shoulders in question and broke eye contact with him.

Knock Out had no response to that. He pursed his lips in thought. Soundwave obviously trusted her, he wondered why. Knock Out trusted Soundwave and his intentions even though he took pleasure in giving him a hard time. Probably because of his own unwillingness to cooperate with the other species. But, perhaps Soundwave was onto something with her. She seemed honestly oblivious. He sighed and leaned into the table and relaxed his arms from beside her. He spoke without concern in is voice. "You seem stable enough... I'll return you to the gateway room."