The last harvest

Wheeljack finished the last touches on the puller device he was making, and went to check on Perceptor.

"I can't wait to be able to transform like a normal mech," he murmured as he rose from microscope mode. "The nanites are growing remarkably in the oil you decanted from Soundwave's best."

"Technically, those are his own nanites. Or at least, nanites long ago adapted to his oil. How much do we have?"

"One more harvest of Soundwave and we can grow nanites to refill all the shot Autobots. It's Thundercracker's turn today, isn't it? With that, we will be almost ready with the Victory. Let's hope he complies as usual, and we're fine."

"Prowl wasn't happy about the prospect of having both him and Skywarp bound without locking them in the brig."

"If Prowl wants the entire brig repaired, he can do that himself" Perceptor growled. "I'm done with the essentials."

"I will go and harvest TC. I might be back sooner than normal."

But then, he wasn't. He spent the entire afternoon cuddling with the Seeker as he slowly regained his strength, then watched as he took off to the clear sky for what would possibly be his last flight for a long time. He also spotted Skywarp dancing playfully in the vacuum, the slowly setting sun basking his frame in million shades of gold. Who knew black would reflect this gorgeously?

They didn't talk this time, however. Thundercracker only asked if this would be the last one, then afterwards thanked Wheeljack 'for being who he is'. The Autobot imagined his Seeker being lead out of the ship in stasis cuffs. It would be a bitter moment of victory, but still a victory. Better than being all-out enemies again.

The next day Soundwave had finally hit his own mark on the cone, in fact he had even outdone his goal by five more inches. It wasn't solely his own accomplishment: Perceptor had created a simple device that would pull the dark mech's legs towards a fixed point regardless of the resistance met. Then they gave the controls to Soundwave, and watched from a safe distance as he slowly but steadily got himself dragged onto the cone.

It was an absurd sight: the puller on the ground, the cone on a stand right above it. Soundwave, unflinching as usual, lowered himself on the cone with both his legs chained down, seemingly to the ground. When he had reached what was the maximum of his valve, the chains started to reel up and the mech had been pulled even deeper on the device. Then even more.

"Do we have anything on the telemetry, Perce?"

"Nothing we haven't observed before. He is opening up as the cone is entering him, and he registers this as physical stimulation."

That wasn't more than what could be seen from the outside: no motion apart from the two reels dragging down the communication officer, who was airing encrypted emotions, but remained completely silent.

"I'm glad I set it to a very slow speed," Perceptor stated. "I just hope he won't choose this as a way of suicide."

"He has the right to," Wheeljack declared. "But I don't think he could. You too have seen his inner scans: because of his unique build as a carrier, all his essential parts are located around the cassette compartment. There is nothing that could be damaged by a spike of any size, real or artificial. But I'm worried if the welds in his limbs will hold properly."

"Those will, don't you doubt my work. I spent an entire night with them."

Indeed, the unstoppable pull had not affected the repaired leg; it only dragged the motionless mech even more onto the cone. When the top of the device had finally entered his subspace compartment, Soundwave let out one single, but rather audible moan. The reels stopped.

"Look at this!" Perceptor was holding the datapad that was wirelessly connected to the harvesting cone's telemetry. "Now THAT is lubrication! I don't know if a masochist registers this as pleasure, but it must be something akin."

"I just hope his cassettes are all right."

"That compartment is suitable for six. Now he only has Laserbeak and the twins. Which reminds me, how's Ravage?"

"I finished the registry of his parts and wrote the full list of what needs to be replaced. Ask again in a month."