Title: Backstage: Sound Crew
Warnings: Silliness, and sensuality. A fetish, and reaction to it. Foul language.
Rating: PG-13
Continuity: G1
Characters: Soundwave, Ratbat, Frenzy, Thundercracker, Skywarp
Disclaimer: The theatre doesn't own the script or actors, nor does it make a profit from the play.
Motivation (Prompt): Scenario - the moment of betrayal
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The message blipped in the corner of his visor. Most of his attention still panted over the breathtaking sweep of Skywarp's thrusters in the civilian's engineer's hands, but Frenzy absently accessed it. A short video popped up, playing from an angle he was familiar with through long partnership. Ratbat had sent him something recorded earlier that day.
Frenzy pried enough of his attention away to watch it.
"Yeah, this is Ratbat. He's a pain in the aft, so feel free to ignore him." The small Decepticon Cassetticon smirked up at the civilian leader of the Decepticon colony, and the other Decepticons all snorted in amusement. The soldiers knew better than to put any stock in Frenzy's off-handed snark; Ratbat's orders were often a pain, but they carried a lot of weight. The civilians had been out of touch with Cybertron's war-time bureaucratic structure for 4 million years, however. They had no idea of Ratbat's real authority. Frenzy had just tainted their first impression of an already size-disadvantaged officer.
Ratbat hadn't shown it at the time, but Frenzy had known his technimal Cassetticon pal was going to make him pay for that comment. He'd gone too far. Ratbat was…not pleased. That was a thing to fear. Frenzy just hadn't thought to guard against vengeance in the middle of a party, of all places.
The overall feel of the video clip seeped ominous and too fast for comfort into Frenzy's thoughts: not forgotten, not forgiven.
A little voice squeaked up as the engineer apologized to the two Seekers and two Cassetticons for going into such depth on the new thruster ignition points. "Oh, don't stop on our account," Ratbat dismissed the apology. "Didn't you know? Frenzy very much…enjoys...feet."
The words seemed to slow time, deepening the tiny Cassetticon's voice with sinister undertones despite the conversational way he spoke. Just the voice was a shock, enough to catch everyone's attention. Ratbat never spoke. The smallest of Soundwave's Cassetticons had long been concerned with energy efficiency above all else, adopting his job of fuel auditor as a lifestyle. Speaking was inefficient when brief noises and databursts sent comm.-to-comm. could convey just as much information. Speaking words aloud just invited further conversation, and that was a waste of time and words he wouldn't condone.
However, what many a foolish mech forgot was that Ratbat was a Decepticon warrior. His devotion to the cause often manifested in ruthless efficient bureaucracy. That was something that seemed inane to the units and outposts he audited but came back lauded in commendation from Shockwave and Megatron himself when the final reports tallied. When he chose - or when he had no choice, as even Soundwave occasionally spited his wishes and sent him into battle against the Autobots - Ratbat applied his brutal mathematics to war.
Only Decepticons outside the Elite dared called him a coward for his fighting style. The Elite Decepticons knew better. They recognized his hovering form high above them or flitting in their shadows as they fought. He was a patient observer waiting for the ideal moment. And when that moment arrived, they'd grin in vicious applause as precisely targeted weapons utterly destroyed their enemies. Ratbat's Cassetticon form had no room for excess weaponry, but when he chose to use it, precision strikes eliminated instead of injured.
Words, on or off the battlefield, were weapons, too. When he chose to use them, Ratbat fired them off in fearsomely accurate volleys that stripped his targets of bluster, slipped past raised defenses, and hit with the power of an explosion. The timing had to be flawless, but Ratbat excelled at waiting for the perfect time.
Frenzy stared at him, optic band wide. Disbelief froze the Cassetticon in place, unable to process the magnitude of betrayal. Skywarp, Thundercracker, and the nameless civilian seemed caught in that perfect, timeless moment as the words sunk in, and Frenzy couldn't stop them from hearing. The simple, casual words seized Frenzy's fuel pump in a panicked vice and squeezed. There wasn't enough time to retaliate. There wasn't a way to take the words back, or cast doubt on Ratbat's tidbit of information. Because that's what Ratbat did, doling out information and orders in beautifully impassive packets that disregarded the actual lives impacted by his emotionless equations.
Except when he wanted that impact, of course. Then he measured the impact to the exact pressure and damage needed to fit the situation. In this case, Frenzy had no time to retreat, no place to retreat to, and no way to run damage control on the simple words that ruined his reputation on Earth, Cybertron, and this new planet as well. Oh, the words soared gloriously through the air. They sank into the larger Decepticons almost visibly while Frenzy's hands clutched helplessly on thin, empty air. Disbelief broke open, cold denial evaporating agonizingly as the shock splashed, and embarrassment bloomed hot and fast over his face. Involuntary reaction, impossible to conceal, and it was all the evidence the three larger Decepticons needed to confirm the facts as the words processed.
Ratbat flipped his wings into neat folds, smug payback and cool disdain in one self-contained motion.
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