Author Note: The other chapters before this might've been dark, but this chapter kind of gets a little darker than the rest. But, I did have fun writing this one! Rated T for a reason! :3
"Mine!" Dirge cried as he took notice of a puddle of energon on the ground. He dashed towards the liquid and dropped to his knees to look more closely to the precious fluid. Soundwave and the other Starscream clones followed close behind him.
Skywarp slowly poked his head from behind Thrust. His wing struts shook a few times before he opened his mouth to speak. "It's…It's from…" he whispered as fear began to seep into his metal alloy. His optics widened, revealing his terror to everybody.
"It's definitely not from Starscream." Ramjet finished Skywarp's sentence, "Perhaps a squirrel accidently drank from an Energon Cube and coughed it up." He crossed his arms and looked into the trees surrounding him, as if he was looking for one of those furry organics he was speaking of.
"He has the processors of a squirrel." Thrust murmured into Soundwave's audio sensors. The smile on his face quickly turned into a frown when he noticed that the Spymaster just ignored his comment. Take a joke, will you? Thrust thought.
Soundwave walked to Dirge's side and began examining the molecules in the energon. He easily discovered that the one who spilled the precious liquid was Starscream. He turned around to look towards Thundercracker, which ticked Ramjet off a little. He nodded to the blue-violet Seeker and revealed the map of the area onto his visor once again.
"So that overrated Decepticon is truly leaking from his wounds." Thundercracker softly cackled to himself. He then looked at Soundwave's visor, "I did make a great choice on who would be our guide."
"Shut your audial sensors, Thundercracker! At this pace, we won't find Starscream or Slipstream!" Thrust hissed at the blue-violet Seeker, clenching his fists in the process.
"Please go on, Thrust. I'm sure everyone here wants to hear your ranting." Ramjet jeered with a look of boredom on his face. He raised a servo into the air, preparing to smack Thrust at the back of the head. Soundwave abruptly caught Ramjet's servo and gave the grey Seeker an emotionless glower. Ramjet rolled his optics as he sheathed his own servo back to his side.
Soundwave stared at Ramjet for a few seconds before walking off, following the energon readings on his visor. Thundercracker was the first to follow him; the rest of the clones quickly followed behind them, Ramjet in last. Soundwave looked down frequently, watching the pools of energon pass by.
Sunstorm quickened his pace so he could fall into step beside Soundwave. "I highly appreciate what you are doing for my wonderful brethren." he whispered into Soundwave's audio sensors with a friendly grin on his face; not something you would see Starscream do in stellar-cycles.
Soundwave glanced at Sunstorm, but then swiveled his head back to the pools of energon appearing on the horizon every now and then. He had no reason to stop his search so he could listen to Sunstorm's babbling of how amazing he was.
Sunstorm continued on smiling, oblivious to the clues Soundwave was leaving so he could shut up. "I would be honored if you would answer the question that is in my mind. You won't regret answering it!" he said, almost sounding like he was pleading to the Spymaster for him to answer the question.
Soundwave sighed in his head, wondering when the Seeker's constant talks would finally end. He glanced back at Sunstorm and vacillated for a moment. He was questioning himself if he would regret answering Sunstorm's question or not. The orange Seeker's wide and curious crimson optics didn't help on the Spymaster's decision, either. I already lost my place in the Decepticon ranks and Slipstream. What more could I lose? Soundwave thought. He then nodded one time to the orange Seeker.
Sunstorm bowed to the Spymaster repeatedly. "Thank you!" he cleared his throat, "Why aren't you with the powerful Lord Megatron? Instead, you're trying to find the great and elegant Slipstream." He tilted his head in curiosity, slightly revealing some puppy-dog optics to Soundwave.
Soundwave instantaneously turned his head back towards Sunstorm. He wasn't prepared to answer that question at all. To be honest, he had no idea why he's using his time searching for Slipstream instead of searching for the Nemesis and clearing his name. Something just made him do so; he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. He felt like he was trapped for some odd reason. His vision faded into blackness as his visor darkened into nothingness.
He could vaguely see Slipstream right in front of him. He was about to reach out a servo, until Slipstream gave off a shrill cry. Spilled energon splattered across the pitch-black ground, dyeing the floor blue. Slipstream's optics glazed over, and her body shattered into several miniature fragments of glass. As the fragments plummeted to the ground, a violet smoke rose from Slipstream's remains. The darkness surrounding Soundwave gave off a maniacal cackle and the fragments of Slipstream drifted into the air towards the ominous smoke. The fragments were constructing something…Something that vaguely resembled a face. A few seconds later, Soundwave stepped back in astonishment as the fragments revealed the face of Unicron. The Chaos Bringer evilly snickered as flames began to engulf Soundwave's body. The Spymaster desperately tried to escape the tornado of flames, but he was restrained by something invisible. He looked up into the air to see the ghost of Slipstream.
Soundwave…Soundwave…
The Spymaster watched as the walls of fire engulfed the innocent ghost, giving off an ear-piercing scream in the process. Soundwave closed his optics as he looked down; he had no idea what was going on. As he reopened his optics, the first thing he saw was Unicron standing before him. He watched as the Chaos Bringer raised his servo and instantly jabbed an energon-covered sword into Soundwave's spark chamber, releasing wisps of smoke that gave off ominous shrieks from Soundwave's visor. The Spymaster silently screamed as Unicron easily tore out his circuitry, his energon dripping into the fire surrounding him, fueling the hungry flames. He was about to fall to the ground into his own energon until he finally snapped back into reality.
"Soundwave, I would highly appreciate it if I am allowed to ask if you are alright." Sunstorm asked in confusion as he stared into the Spymaster's blank visor.
Soundwave instantaneously fully awoken and he stared back at the orange Seeker. He slowly nodded as he regained his breath. Never before had he encountered an event like that. He was confused, curious, and…Frightened. He was beginning to think what it must've meant. Slipstream's death was only one of the things he was worrying about. He was wondering why Unicron was in his vision. It can't be, he thought.
"Ok then," Sunstorm said beside Soundwave, "Are you alright?"
Soundwave looked up at the orange Seeker, locking optics with him. He stood up correctly and looked at the Starscream clones that were looking at him in confusion. He looked at each clone, looking at the expression on their face. He then turned around towards the small energon trail and quickened his pace, following the pool of energon while looking at the map on his visor.
Ramjet followed right behind Soundwave, followed by Thundercracker. He grabbed the Spymaster's shoulder, getting Soundwave's attention, but the silent Decepticon kept on walking. "What's going on? I'm supposed to take point!" Ramjet retorted with an edge in his voice.
Soundwave completely ignored Ramjet and quickened his pace even more. Thundercracker and Ramjet looked at each other and shrugged as they quickened their paces as well. Sunstorm and Dirge followed right behind the two Seekers. And Thrust was dragging Skywarp across the ground, muttering Cybertronian curses to the cowardice Starscream clone.
"Soundwave, tell me why you're leaving us in the dust, or I will throw Skywarp right at your aft!" Thrust hissed, struggling to squirm out of Skywarp's tight grip on his foot.
Soundwave stopped in his tracks, and extended his tentacles. The tentacles made a U-turn towards Thrust's head. They attached to the sides of Thrust's head, immediately sending Soundwave's thoughts into the Seeker's processors. As Soundwave's tentacles retreated back into his chest, Thrust's optics brightened in astonishment. The Seeker then fell into silence as he looked at Soundwave in sympathy.
The other Starscream clones glanced at Soundwave and Thrust, wondering what Thrust was told. Everyone except Thrust and Skywarp looked at Soundwave, eager to know as well. Soundwave extended his tentacles at Thundercracker, Sunstorm, and Ramjet, sending them his thoughts into their processors.
"Well that's stupid." Ramjet muttered in boredom as Soundwave's tentacles vanished into the Spymaster's chestpiece.
"So another bot just joined the party." Thundercracker murmured with a smirk on his face. He then shot Soundwave a miniscule smile on his face, "You know what they say these days: Thundercracker superior, Unicron inferior."
Soundwave glanced at Thundercracker and then turned away, following the energon trail. He looked at the map on his visor and began noticing two energon readings far away from the pools of energon they were following. Soundwave swiveled his head towards the energon readings, but then the readings disappeared as he looked to their direction. He waited a few seconds before returning to following the pools of leaked energon that were leading towards a fallen oak tree.
As Soundwave and the Starscream clones passed by the fallen oak tree, a pair of white optics emanated from the shadows, watching the group walk off. The optics glowered straight at Soundwave and their owner began standing up from the shadows.
A pincer quickly grabbed the bot's servo, tugging him back into the darkness. "We aren't allowed to kill them!" the femme next to the white optics softly hissed, "But you know the drill. Right, Makeshift?"
"Of course." Makeshift answered, and his armor began to shift around. His body began to transform into a much slimmer figure with crimson optics glowing through the shadows.
"Now go and reunite with lonely Soundwave." the femme softly commanded and watched Makeshift silently escape the shadows and follow Soundwave and the Starscream clones. She then began to snicker as she her glowing optics disappeared into the darkness.
Author Note: Yup, I made Makeshift survive that explosion in Transformers Prime! I hated to see the guy die, so I wanted to make him return for another round! Go kick some aft, Makeshift, before you die again!