Title:Transformers Shadow of the Day
Genre: Action/Romance, Drama/Friendship
Rating: T for language, violence, some sexual reference, and crude humor
Short Summary: The Third Chapter; With The Fallen gone, and Unicron's delayed arrival, the unity of Autobots and Decepticons work with Earth to shut down the dreaded Department for good.
-*-Chapter Eleven-*-
Soothing
Best Song used for Chapter: You Found Me: Kelly Clarkson
It took a little while to calm Max down but Soundwave managed to do it. He kept her in his arms, gently rubbing her back until she only hiccupped sobs out and wiped her eyes free from tears. She still looked afraid as she glanced at Nik Boyd from where he was standing but was surprised to see Ratchet. She had cringed into Soundwave as she stared at the lime green Autobot, who kept patient and away from her, allowing her to adjust her surroundings.
After a short time, she tried to speak, looking at Soundwave. But her voice kept cutting out with scrambled words and that caused her to hiss in pain as she grasped her neck, rubbing the achiness of it.
"Try not to strain yourself, Miss Tanner. You have been through a lot already. In truth, I would have preferred you not to be awake yet." Ratchet spoke softly as he went to an overly large refrigerator and pulled out a water bottle before carefully walking over. He had to stop when Max cringe, watching him warily. He just nodded before flicking his optics to Soundwave and holding it out.
Soundwave merely nodded before he turned his human eyes away to his real form parked near the wall of the huge medbay.
The side door flung open and several metallic bodies came scrambling out, all looking excited. They slowed down from racing over when Max whimpered at the sudden movement and sound bit they still made their way over.
However, Laserbeak dived over to Ratchet and took the water bottle before diving over to the medical bed to join his siblings just sitting at the foot of the human sized bed, bright red optics staring at Max. The subunits were looking happy but hopefully at her, waiting for her to recognize them.
But it didn't take long whatsoever.
As soon as Max saw the subunits, her entire face lit up and tears filled her eyes as a small smile curled onto her face. She knew them immediately. "Fr...nzy...um...le...Laze...ak...Buz...aw." she tried to say, her crackled voice whispered as her tears spilled down her face. She sniffed once before spreading out her arms. "My...oys..." she tried, wincing only a little as it hurt her voice.
The subunits made a move to bolt forward but immediately they stopped their selves as they glanced at the frown on Ratchet's face plates. They knew very well if they didn't get his permission, wrenches would be flying.
Ratchet frowned deeply but then his optics softened and he slowly nodded. "Carefully." He warned them softly.
All four smiled brightly as they snapped their attention back to Max and then scrambled up onto the bed, which groaned under all of the weight. No one cared as the two humanoid and two aerial bots engulfed her in arms and wings.
Max did all she could to wrap all four in her arms, hugging them almost painfully tight, not caring about their sharp corners. She winced a little when one corner did poke her in the ribs but ignored it mostly as she quickly placed kisses right on top of their helms. It only hit her a second later that one was missing. She looked around for the last subunit but didn't see Ravage anywhere. She immediately turned to look at Soundwave questionably, whose human lips up turned barely before he looked towards the doors.
Just as they burst open and here came the feral feline bot, booking it with a bright optic.
"Ah, ah, ah! No running in my medbay, Ravage!" Ratchet scowled as the subunit rushed over to the bed.
Ravage ignored him as he stopped abruptly by the bed and hopped half way up so he could rub his head against Max's arm, who tried to laugh silently and began running her hand against his helm. He gave her a toothy grin, his tail waving back and forth in happiness.
Smiling, Max bent down and kissed the felinish robot on the helm before smiling up at Soundwave, who was trying to look impassive but was openly failing. She reached over and snatched him by his shirt, pulling him close so she could wrap one arm around him, which brought a chuckle out of him.
"All right. All right. I don't want to break it up but I am afraid I have to." Ratchet spoke up moving a little closer. He looked apologetic when Max flinched at the sound of his voice but tried not to let it bother him too much. "Laserbeak, give Miss Tanner the water bottle. Miss Tanner, it will be wise to drink some water. It might help your injured throat."
Max frowned up at him but took the bottle from Laserbeak to drink the cool liquid. She gave the CMO a questioning look, looking him over.
As if understanding what she was thinking, Ratchet motioned to himself. "My name is Ratchet, Miss Tanner. I am the Autobot Chief Medical Officer. I believe you might have heard of me from Prowl while he, Soundwave ad Barricade were in Las Vegas." He spoke carefully.
Max took a moment to think before slowly nodding and looking around with a confused but bright look. She was now looking startled at her surroundings, not recognizing any of it. She even paused to give Soundwave a shocked look as she tried to speak again, only to hiss in pain and touch her throat.
"Don't try and speak right now, Miss Tanner." Ratchet warned carefully, getting her attention again. He sighed softly before motioning to Nik. "This is Doctor Nik Boyd! A German Doctor who is also one of my human colleagues. You must be wondering where you are." And he chuckled when Max gave him a dry look as if saying "Duh". He merely nodded as he motioned to Soundwave. "Soundwave brought you to the Cybertronian Nest Base for medical treatment. He went through great lengths to rescue you from your captors. He, and his subunits." He explained.
Max looked at Soundwave before opening her mouth to try and speak again only to hiss un pain. She grimaced before touching her throat as if asking what was wrong with it.
Ratchet understood nonetheless. He sighed, dipping his head before shuffling carefully forward so not to startle her, just to look in her eyes. "Miss Tanner, I am afraid your vocal cords have been highly abused while in the possession of the Department. You now have a case of Vocal Cord Paresis. I am not sure if it is permanent yet or temporarily. But you are unable to speak for a time until we can know. Until your larynx is healed, I would advise you not to strain it." He told her.
Tears filled Max's eyes as she listened to his words but she definitely understood what he was saying. She looked almost desperate and helpless to know that her voice might be gone forever. She moved her mouth, making a few garbled words that couldn't be understood before scowling in frustration and she held up her hand, moving it as if writing in the air.
Ratchet understood her and looked at Nik, who nodded as if understanding, himself. The human doctor dug into his medical coat and pulled out a pen and a small note book, handing it out to Max.
Max gave him a nod of thanks before she flipped the book open and quickly scribbled what she wanted to say. She then turned it around so that Ratchet and Nik could see what she had written.
'How long will it be before you know? Will I not be able to talk ever again? What about singing?'
Sighing, Nik was the one to shake his head to her question. "The damage to your throat is severe, Miss Tanner. I wouldn't advise returning to that career. We also don't..." he paused when Max scribbled furiously on the note pad and showed him a single word that clearly would have been yelling it if she could.
'MAX!'
Nik grimaced but nodded his head in apology. "Max, I apologize for offending you." He said softly.
Max huffed in frustration ad pain before she drooped her shoulders and slumped against the headboard of the bed, writing on the pad again. She showed it to him again.
'I'm sorry. I just...' She had crossed out the last two words and wrote something else. 'Singing was my life. It was all I knew. And now you are saying I will never sing again. I am DJ. What kind of DJ can I be if I can't sing?'
Ratchet smiled faintly as he nodded to her. "We will have to introduce you to Bumblebee and Blaster later. You don't always need a voice to be a DJ." He received a dry look from Max, clearly not amused. He chuckled any way before looking up when there came a tap on the door. "Who is it?" He called.
The door opened and Jazz came in, carrying Keller and Will with Barricade right behind him with Kris on his shoulder and Greg Butte jogging to keep up.
Nonetheless, Max's face brightened when she saw the three se did know and received happy smiles in return. Greg even ran right up to her and engulfed her in a hug, which Kris soon followed after.
"Max, you may recognize the Secretary of Defense, John Keller and this is Colonial Will Lennox, who is the head of the human division of Nest." Ratchet said a moment later, after explaining why Max wasn't saying anything.
Keller nodded to Max, smiling faintly in greeting. "Miss Tanner." He chuckled when she scowled and Ratchet had to tell him to just call her by her name. "Max, so we heard you went through quite an adventure, dealing with some of our unwanted enemies. I am deeply sorry that this happened to you. I am only glad Soundwave got to you in time." He stated.
While he was talking, Max had been writing something down before she flipped it around to reveal her question.
'How did you find out they took me? Who were they? What happened? Why me?!' The questions had been.
From a side look, Max saw Soundwave look away with an almost impassive look. She frowned slightly as she looked at him before looking back at Keller when he sighed, also seeing the look on the big Decepticon's face.
"They are called the Department. It is a top secret terrorist organization that was a part of the Government before they were shut down. They weren't very happy about it so they went their own way. They," Keller was explaining. "They are aware of our Cybertronian neighbors and have targeted any humans that are close to them. You, unfortunately, were caught being around three of our Cybertronians and they thought you were an ally. They attacked you because they knew that you meant something to one of them."
Glances were made towards Soundwave, who refused to look at anyone or thing but the wall.
"Anyway, we just recently found out that the Department even had you and we were preparing a rescue mission to bring you to safety." Keller continued.
"Yeah, but SOMEONE had to flip out and go off on his own." Barricade said shooting Soundwave a smug look, looking like he was enjoying this too much. And he received a dark look in return from the DSIC. "Soundwave took off before we could even stop him and tore through that Department Facility just to find you. Did a lot of the pits to get you back all by himself."
Max couldn't help but smile shyly up at Soundwave, clearly liking the sound of what he did to save her. She even picked up the pen to write some more. Only she didn't get it all written when her eyes flashed and she practically threw it away from her to cover her mouth and grasp her stomach.
Immediately recognizing the act, Nik snatched up a trash can and hurried over to her, handing it to her so she could empty out her stomach.
"Eck." Barricade remarked, grimacing in disgust before getting his head slapped by Ratchet.
Everyone else looked at Max in concern as she threw up and looked quite embarrassed about it. Keller and Will stepped back so that Nik could take care of her for the moment.
With tears of embarrassment in her eyes, Max finished her moment of sickness before plopping backwards and covering her face with her hands. She was no doubt very upset for breaking down like that. A squeaky word of why escaped her painfully and all gave her a sympathetic look. Soundwave moved closer to rub her shoulder in comfort, which she somewhat flinched a little from.
"It's a withdraw from the drugs the Department gave you." Ratchet spoke gravely. "You will be ill for a couple days but it will get better. I will give you some anti nausea and antibiotics medication to help. I also suggest you eat only liquid food until you can handle solids. Until I am completely sure you are healthy, I do want you to stay in my medbay. All right?"
Max, still looking a little green, nodded as she sat back up and took a drink of her water, grimacing at the after taste. She reached for the notebook again and wrote down something.
'I'm sorry. This is really embarrassing.' She had wrote.
Everyone was shaking their heads but it was Ratchet who spoke up again. "You have nothing to be sorry about, Max. You didn't know what would have happened." He paused glancing off to the side, his optics lighting up a little. He scowled a little before shaking his head as if telling someone no.
After a moment, he looked aggravated about something before looking at Max. "Max, there are a couple of mechs who would like to meet you. But I won't allow them to visit until I am sure you are up to it." The medic stated firmly and loudly as if telling those visitors that.
Max hesitated as she looked confused before slowly nodding as if granting it. Ratchet, understanding, nodded back and looked to the medbay doors.
After a moment, the doors swooshed open and the two leaders came in, looking bemused.
Just by looking up at Optimus Prime, Max had to gape. She was aware that the Cybertronians were large, due to Soundwave's size. But the Autobot leader was a good Cybertronian head taller than her favorite Cybertronian. And much like Soundwave, he walked with a strange sense of elegance and grace for such a heavy and large being made out of metal. She immediately felt a sense of peace and nobility wash over her just by looking at him. It definitely calmed her nerves.
The other Cybertronian, on the other hand, was almost completely opposite. She took in his silverish beige coloring, the wide jet wings on his back and the brilliant red optics that were looking right at her. She sensed a certain...arrogance and over confidence rolling off of him. He was trying to intimidate her with his complex superiority look but all she could do in return was slowly smirk and shake her head.
Starscream blinked in surprise to see that she was not cringing back like he thought she would. Which brought a snicker from Barricade and a smirk from Soundwave, the two knowing what he had been trying to do.
"Max Tanner," Optimus spoke up finally and she looked up at him almost in awe by the sound of his powerful but gentle voice. She was already in admiration of him just by the way he sounded. "I am Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots." He introduced himself.
"And I'm Starscream, the Leader of the Decepticons." The Seeker butted in, in a sort of rough tone. "Seems to me, you've caused quite a stir in my ranks."
Max drew back a little as surprised while Soundwave growled and sent a glare at his leader. He shared a short glaring contest with Starscream until it was Ratchet who started waving a wrench at the latter. "Don't even start, Starscream. You are not going to harass my patient when she just barely woke up!" He warned.
Starscream snorted unattractively and shook his helm with a smirk on his faceplates. "Harass her? Pit, no. I am not going to harass her. I am going to THANK her!" Everyone looked at him in surprise while Soundwave growled and glared harder at him. He ignored it as he smirked back down at a surprised Max. "Do you have any idea, whatsoever, just how irritating Soundwave has been for eons because he is such a loner?"
"Starscream." Soundwave growled a warning.
Again, Starscream ignored him as he openly grinned at Max, who was slowly starting to smile.
"There was a bet going on in the Decepticon ranks that Soundwave would never find someone to care about, due to the fact that he is an emotionless son of a glitch." Starscream remarked smugly, earning another growl from the said Decepticon.
"And even better," Barricade added, not even flinching when Soundwave shot him a dark, vicious look. "He missed you, big time. The past couple of months, he has been so fragging unbearable with his mopey, depressing self. It was driving everyone nuts!"
WHAM!
"OW! SOUNDWAVE!" Barricade snarled when one of the silent Con's wavering appendages slapped him upside the helm.
However, Max was smiling, tears in her eyes as she looked up at Soundwave. She looked so happy to hear that. It definitely showed on her face as she looked up at the big silent Decepticon. She even picked up the notebook and wrote, 'I missed him and my boys too. The only reason why I ended up with those assholes was them saying they were taking me to them. They said they were his allies.'
Soundwave growled at the very thought that the Department lied to her just to force her to go with them. The more he heard about them, the more he felt the urge to rip them apart.
"That is another reason I wanted to speak to you, Miss Tanner." Optimus spoke up, ignoring the angry Decepticon's reaction and receiving curious looks. "We will not ask you for the information now, since you have just woken from stasis but we would like to know if you could tell us anything that you saw or heard while as a captive." The Autobot Leader looked apologetic ad quite guilty for bringing it up. But it was necessary.
Max, however, slowly nodded, stopping anyone from protesting, namely Soundwave or Ratchet. She began writing, immediately and everyone could only watch. She wrote for a good long moment, letting everyone pondering what she had to say but once she finished, she held the notebook out to Nik, who took it.
Frowning the German doctor looked at and began reading out loud for all to hear. "I remember there was this doctor. He was really mean, even if he looked nice. He kept a nice smile on his face but I learned a long time ago to never anyone by how they look. He put me through hell while I was there. He was even the one to try and choke me when I wouldn't stop fighting to break out of restraints." He read.
Soundwave and his subunits growled viciously and everyone was surprised when Barricade and Ratchet did the same. Everyone just frowned darkly at the thought. But Max took the notebook back and wrote some more for a short minute before giving it back to Nik.
"He made me go through a lot of tests and kept talking about readmission to a more robotic experiment. Something about cutting me up and turning me into some kind of cyborg. Said he was going to use me to get into the enemies' ranks and make me cut them down secretly." Nik read her note.
Max took over the notebook again and wrote next, "I kept fighting though. I was not going to be used for anything. Especially used against Soundwave." Nik read from the note.
Slowly everyone nodded, somewhat smiling in admiration for this human civilian who seemed to have a lot of fight in her than they realized.
"Did they ever do anything to you that you might be aware of? Any kind of operations or surgery?" Keller asked seriously.
Max shook her head as she took her notebook back and wrote a good deal for them this time.
"No. They tried to start drugging me up so they could cut me open but being a former drug addict, I learned how to push past the drug affects." Nik read from her note. "I've built up a good immunity to drugs a long time ago. So I was somewhat aware with my surroundings at the time. And when they tried starting the operations, I fought against them."
"Which is probably why she had so many sedatives in her system then." Ratchet interrupted thoughtfully as he rubbed his chin guard. "If her immune system kept pushing back the drugs they were forcing into her, they would have wanted to put as much as they could inside of her so she would take to them."
Slowly, everyone nodded. They figured that made a little sense.
However, before anyone else could ask any more questions, the door opened and the tall, golden Alpha Trion walked in, ignoring the exasperated sigh from Ratchet ad him muttering, "Medbay is getting too crowded."
Instead, the golden mech took one look at Max and smiled almost coyly, earning an awed look from her, due to the fact that he was a brilliant gold color. "Maximum Wave." The old mech merely stated, earning surprised and suspicious looks. He ignored them again as he looked up at Optimus. "Optimus, you already know why I am here." He added in a firm tone.
Optimus nodded once as he turned his optics over to Soundwave. "Yes, I do. I suggest we take this conversation outside the medbay. I am sure Max would like some rest." He said firmly.
Understanding the look, Soundwave nodded before looking at a rather hesitant Max, who understood the fact that he was leaving the room. He gently placed his holoform's hand over hers. "I will return once we are done speaking. You rest." He told her.
Max, still looking uneasy, slowly nodded as she laid back. She did not look like she wanted to go to rest without him in the room. She wanted him to stay by her side at all times.
But unfortunately, Ratchet nodded in agreement as he looked around. "That goes for all of you. Out of my medbay so that my patient can get some sleep. She needs to rest and too much excitement is not good for her. So out." He ordered, pausing for a moment. "Oh, Soundwave, before I forget. Take your cracked visor to Wheeljack and Hound so they can repair it. They will have an extra for you in the mean time until its complete." And he received a nod from the silent Decepticon.
Everyone began to leave, though Soundwave and Alpha Trion ended up being the last to do so. The large Decepticon had eventually dismissed his holoform and was looking at Max with his real optics. But after a moment, he left the medbay.
"Soundwave," Alpha Trion said as soon as they were out of the room. It was only he, Soundwave, Optimus and Starscream now; the other mechs and humans already having wandered off. "I am glad you found your Max. I am sure with your assistance, she will adjust to being a part of our resistance against Galvatron and his Minicons. I also heard the report of your...invasion of the Department facility, including certain details. I am rather curious about your sonic blaster. May I inspect it?"
Soundwave frowned, his damaged visor dimming a little before he raised his left arm and allowed the hidden compartment to open so he could take out the dark metal blaster gun from within. He held it out to the Ancient Cybertronian so he could look it over.
Alpha Trion carefully took the blaster and began inspecting it. It was made of dark metal, twisted and twirled a little in its strange design. Deep red markings ran across the nozzle of the weapon and onto the handle. Indeed, it looked almost like a usual gun would but there just seemed something about it that made others frown. Everyone could almost see a pulsing wave come off it while just being in Alpha Trion's hand.
Turning it over a few times, Alpha Trion slowly nodded before he pressed his fingers against what looked like the power core container so he could see the interface systems for the weapon. A part of the handle hissed open ad revealed a surprising sight.
Unlike most blaster guns with power cores, the sonic blaster didn't seem to have one. Instead, it had a complex looking energy wires all glowing with red light.
As well as a strange looking Cybertronian marking; a name that not many would have known before the attack of The Fallen happened.
"As I was afraid of. This is a Prime weapon. It belonged to Megatronus Prime before his great fall into darkness and corruption of Unicron." Alpha Trion merely stated.
Everyone, Soundwave especially tensed in surprise.
"So...Soundwave somehow has a hold of a weapon used by the Primes of Old." Optimus said frowning and tilting his head. "What do we do then?"
Alpha Trion shook his head as he closed the containment shield and held the weapon back out to Soundwave, who was slow to take it back. "We do nothing with it. It has imprinted its coding with Soundwave. I can only guess that he can alone use it due to his type of Cybertronian coding." He turned his golden optics onto the silent Decepticon, smiling faintly. "It is you telepathic coding that bonded to this weapon, Soundwave. An ability you have not used for a long time, I can only guess."
Optimus and Starscream gaped in surprise at Soundwave. "A telepath? Since when?!" The Decepticon Leader yelped. "I have never seen Soundwave...!"
Soundwave was placing the sonic resonator away, not even sparing a glance at his Leader. "Of course not. Only Megatron and Shockwave were aware of my telepathic abilities." He answered in a deep rumble. He turned his burning visor back to Starscream. "It was when I first joined the Decepticon cause. Megatron learned of my abilities and wanted to use them only as a weapon of destruction. Until he learned that my processor was able to strike down another's brutally. It was at the time he didn't trust my loyalty. So he ordered myself to submit a program seal and had my telepathic ability placed in lockdown. I can remove the sealing program at any time but not without a few...problems."
"What sort of problems?" Optimus asked quite curious about it.
Soundwave looked back at him. "Once I remove the seal, I will be subjected to the unstable wave of emotions around my very person." He answered in his strange way.
Alpha Trion only nodded. "In other words, he has not used his telepathy for so long that he is unused to it. Once he removes the sealing program to unlock his ability program, he will be hit with whatever emotions that are in other mechs." He broke it down a little.
"I see. Then if we do allow him to remove the seal, it would be wise if there was no one around him so he doesn't pick up the emotions others tend to have, striking at him before he could prepare himself." Optimus said thoughtfully.
"Exactly how powerful can your telepathy be, Soundwave?" Starscream asked suspiciously.
Soundwave sent him a rather cool, sly smile. "Powerful enough to knock even Megatron into stasis lock if I so desire." He said darkly smug.
Starscream couldn't help but smirk. "And we could probably use that to our advantage then." He stated narrowing his optics. "Does it work on organics?"
Optimus and Alpha Trion stiffened at the very thought while Soundwave merely frowned. But after a moment, he nodded. "I have used my telepathic programming against an organic being once, only to seek out information that was being withheld." He saw the unease in Optimus' optics but he shook his helm. "It is not fatal unless I make it to be, Optimus Prime. The only affect that will come to an organic is a processor ache afterward."
Slowly Optimus nodded and looked at Starscream. "You are thinking of having Soundwave interrogate Hollander, aren't you?" He asked seriously.
Starscream looked just as serious as he gazed back at Optimus. "What other choice do we have, Prime? The old fool might have something very important in his mind and we need to know what he does know about the secret Director of the Department. The sooner we know who the Director is, the faster we can end them for all. Do you really want other humans to continue being harmed because of them?" He asked firmly.
Optimus sighed, his shoulders falling a little. He didn't like this but he did some point to Starscream's words. They really did need to end the Department quickly. For other humans' sakes. There could have been a lot of secrets that Hollander had that they needed to know about.
Turning his attention back to Soundwave, Optimus frowned. "Your ability will not terminate or cause serious damage, will it?" He asked firmly.
Soundwave shook his head straightening. "Negative. Unless I want it to. But I will only use it for information gathering. Not termination. You have my word of Primus of it." He swore.
Slowly, Optimus nodded with a sigh. "Soundwave, then you have my permission, and obviously Starscream's, to remove yourself from the base and well away from all to deactivate the seal program ad regain your telepathic program. When you are ready, begin interrogating Doctor Alexander Hollander."
