Hey everyone, just as a heads up. I am not following the Prime cartoon events, if that already wasn't obvious lol. Though some parts of my story may be related to a few episodes, in the future.
"So Ratchet is Soundwave cleared for active duty?" Arcee asked turning to the red and white mech.
"Yes, just don't be jumping into any bombs Soundwave." Ratchet retorted waving a wrench at the young mech.
"Trust me I don't plan on it." Soundwave scoffed, as Arcee dragged him towards the base exit. "Are we going somewhere?" Soundwave chuckled as the femme dragged him out of the base.
"Yeah, on a small patrol with me." Arcee replied with a smile.
Mirage blinked watching as the femme stole his brother out of the base. Exhaling deeply, Mirage left the main room, taking the lift just in time to watch his brother take off, following the two wheeler. After the reaper was out of sight, the youngling made his way over to his mother's burial sight. Sitting on a bolder next to the piled rocks that marked the grave sight.
Optimus stepped off the lift, walking towards his mourning youngling. "Have you given some thought towards leaving the team?"
"I talked to Arcee about it last night, I promised her I wouldn't think about leaving the team until I am a young mech." Mirage replied, staring blankly at his mother's grave.
"I'm glad you have reconsidered. You've had a difficult day today, are you doing okay?" Optimus asked, sitting down next to his now youngest son.
"I'm sad I didn't get to know my real mother, I'm not proud that I had to kill today. But I'm happy from all that, I got my big brother back." Mirage shrugged, trying to hide his sad, sensitive spark.
"Sometimes you have to sacrifice in order to achieve." Optimus mentioned, watching the sun lower in the sky. "I'm glad the bomb didn't fully effect you though, you've had enough torture from constantly being reverted into a sparkling."
Mirage smirked warmly as the sun disappeared. "Yeah I'm glad I'm not a sparkling, although the bomb made me a borderline sparkling." The small youngling scoffed rolling his optics.
"That's alright though, Bumblebee's happy to be a big brother now." Optimus chuckled at his slightly annoyed youngling.
"Yeah..." Mirage narrowed his optics as a thought crossed his mind.
"What's the matter youngling?" The Prime cocked his helm curiously at the red youngling.
"I was just thinking about how the bomb effected Soundwave's processor, and memories. But my revert did nothing but shrink me in size?" the youngling pondered
"It may not have effected your memorey banks yet, but I can see it has definitely given you some young youngling's traits in you." Optimus chuckled warmly at his youngling.
"Suuuuure..." Mirage replied sarcastically, following his father to the lift. He hoped his father was wrong, and that his processor remained as is.
Soundwave flew close to the motorcycle as the femme explained what had happened that morning. "I should've payed more attention, I knew something was off about her, I just didn't know if it was just because of Mirage being closed off towards her."
"It's was not an easy one to debunk, Shockwave gave him your mother's spark and memories. But the good thing is it didn't escalate to where the Cons found our base. Always trust your instincts Soundwave." Arcee replied over the comlink.
Soundwave was silent for a moment, the femme was right he should've trusted his first instinct. "How's Mirage been?"
"Well, not great. He wanted to leave the team before all that stuff with the imposter." Arcee sighed in reply to her mech's question.
"What, why?" The violet reaper was shocked by what the motorcycle had said.
"It's alright now I convinced him to stay until he's around your age. Mirage just wasn't feeling like an Autobot, when you became a sparkling, the team was drilling him about not hunting the Cons down. And your so called mother was flipping out about the way he treated the Decepticons, which should've been another hint that she was an imposter. He already got enough of that when he was a sparkling in the Autobot base on Cybertron, and that resulted in him getting thrown out into the war torn streets." Arcee scoffed as she pulled off the road behind a large rock mountain.
Soundwave transformed, landing next to the cobalt blue motorcycle that did the same.
"But he seemed to have a good day with Bee today." Arcee shrugged as the valley went dark.
"That's good..." Soundwave halfheartedly replied staring off in the distance.
"What's on your mind?" Arcee cocked her helm trying to look at the mech's visor.
"I'm worried about Mirage. He seems to be all nerves right now." Soundwave replied turning his helm halfway towards the femme.
"He had nightmares last night, and he's probably quite upset about what happened this morning." Arcee suggested, grabbing her mech's servo.
"Yes, but this feels different." The violet mech sighed giving the femme's servo a gentle squeeze.
Mirage yawned, tiredly blinking while sitting on the couch, watching internet videos with Bumblebee, Jazz, and the twins.
Bumblebee cringed, watching the scary video of humans playing some strange horror video game. Hiding his optics behind his servos as the humans were chased by a tall, scary, faceless man with tentacles.
"This is a little to freaky for me bros, I'm turning in for the night." Jazz sighed, leaving the main room.
"Sure Jazz." Sideswipe rolled his optics as the grey mech disappeared down the hallway.
Hearing the screams from the holo vid audio, followed by the gasps and laughter from the twins, and the muffled whimpers from the young scout. Optimus turned away from the monitors, making his way over to the couch. "Bumblebee, Mirage time for bed."
"Okay!" Bumblebee eagerly leapt off the couch, sprinting to his room.
"Mirage?" Optimus raised an optic ridge at his youngest son.
"I wanna wait for Arcee... and Soundwave..." Mirage tiredly slurred, making his father smile.
"I will send them to your room to say goodnight when they return." Optimus softly chuckled nudging the youngling off the couch.
"Fine..." Mirage grumbled trudging his way into his room. Mirage cocked his helm in confusion, staring at his trembling brother under the berth. "What are you doing Bee?"
"I'm recharging." Bumblebee trembled as Mirage crouched down next to the berth.
"Under your berth?" Mirage raised an optic ridge.
"Uh... no..." Bumblebee nervously laughed, crawling out from under his berth.
"Bee you're an Autobot. You know that you're bigger and scarier than whatever that thing was on the holo vid, right?" Mirage said, helping the yellow scout up from the floor.
"Oh yeah, I guess you're right." Bumblebee smiled sitting on his berth. "Are you going to recharge?" the scout asked laying down in his berth.
"Yeah..." Mirage shrugged crawling onto his own berth.
"Well maybe you can join Hide and I when we train tomorrow." Bumblebee yawned closing his optics.
"Maybe..." Mirage sighed, leaning his back against the wall his berth sat against.
After twenty more minutes of humans screaming and loud obnoxious laughter from the twins Ratchet slammed his fist against the counter. "Alright twins find something else to watch!"
"Aw come on Ratchet this is hilarious, the stupid humans can't find stupid pictures in the forest." Sideswipe laughed with his twin.
"Just ignore them Ratchet." Ironhide scoffed grabbing some energon, as the young couple entered the base.
"What the hell is all that noise?" Arcee hissed, wincing as humans shouting echoed through the room.
"It's some sort of game, the humans are trying to run away from this faceless creature called Slender Man." Sideswipe replied as Soundwave and Arcee walked over to them.
Soundwave cocked his helm, curiously watching the screen, as it showed some tall, faceless creature with tentacles attacking the human players.
"You know, Slender Man kinda reminds me of you Soundwave." Sunstreaker retorted, looking up at the young faceless mech.
"I do?" Soundwave folded his arms, turning his gaze to the golden twin.
"Soundwave is not some faceless creature trying to murder humans." Arcee scoffed glaring at the golden twin.
"Alright that's enough of that." Ratchet growled turning the holo video off.
"Aaaw, buzz kill..." the twins grumbled, exiting the main room to their bedroom, before the cranky medic could chase them out.
"Soundwave, Arcee, Mirage was waiting for you two to return. I told him you would come say goodnight to him when you returned." Optimus walked up to the young couple.
"He's probably recharging by now, but of course we'll go say goodnight." Arcee smiled guiding her mech to the youngling's room.
Mirage's optics grew heavy, as he began to loose his battle with recharging.
Arcee smiled warmly as they entered the younglings room. Bumblebee was already snoring in a deep recharge, while Mirage tried to stay awake sitting on his berth.
"I'd say it's time to recharge." Soundwave carefully laid his youngling brother down on the berth.
Mirage whined as he was moved into a more comfortable position on his berth.
"Goodnight Mirage."
"Come'on Soundwave let him recharge." Arcee said waving her mech out of the room.
Optimus watched as the young mech shut the younglings room. "Is Mirage finally recharging?"
"Yes he is, we're going to do the same." Arcee replied gesturing for her mech to follow her.
"Geez didn't I do enough recharging as a sparkling?" Soundwave complained following the femme to their room.
"No actually, you barely napped." Arcee retorted to the slender mech.
"Oh... goodnight I guess!" Soundwave waved at the others, before entering their room.
"What's you're rush Arcee, did you miss me as a mech that much?" The violet mech laughed as the femme shut their door.
"Yes I did, the only ones with half your intelligence were Ratchet, Mirage, and Optimus." Arcee scoffed making her mech laugh even more.
Soundwave grabbed hold of the cobalt blue femme's servo. "I'm not just intelligent..." he smirked pulling them femme close his frame.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you're also a real charmer." Arcee snorted wrapping her arms around her mech's waist.
Soundwave's frame tensed as his femme's arms wrapped around him. So many alarms suddenly flashed in his processor, causing him to push Arcee off of him.
"Are you alright Soundwave?" Arcee asked with concern, watching her mech shake his helm.
Soundwave quickly aborted all the warnings, disengaging his defence systems. "Sorry Arcee, yes I am."
"What was that about?" Arcee sat herself down on the berth.
"My defences just threw on every alarm system I have. I didn't mean to shove you away, I just didn't want to attack you by accident." The violet mech sighed deeply, walking over to the berth.
"That hasn't happened in quite some time, why all of the sudden?" The femme moved over as the young mech sat next to her.
"Well I mean it still happens to me, but not to that extent." The violet mech turned his helm towards his femme. "It must be my systems rebooting from the revert."
"Let's just relax and get some recharge then." Arcee suggested laying herself down on the berth.
"Sure." Soundwave's sighed, unwillingly laying down on the berth.
"You're so uneasy, what's really the matter?" Arcee rolled onto her side to face her mech.
"Don't worry about me, let's just relax like you said." Soundwave wrapped his arms around the cobalt blue femme.
"You know I'm going to eventually figure out what's bothering you." Arcee stated returning the embrace.
"Of course you are." Soundwave would've smirked if he could, as the femme smiled at him before closing her optics.
Mirage's optics opened with surprise, as his gaze was met by a large red glowing optic.
"Wake up sparkling!" Shockwave growled shaking the sparkling awake.
Mirage yelped as he was violently shaken. Kicking his little peds at the cyclops.
"You have tests to run, lets go!" Shockwave hissed throwing the sparkling down on the ground.
Mirage shivered in pain, quickly scrambling to his peds, attempting to toddle as fast as he could towards the testing arena. Every second step he took landed him on the floor, scrambling onto his peds as the mad scientist wasn't far behind.
"You're late." Megatron hissed as Mirage and Shockwave entered the arena.
"Sorry my Lord, this one was waking from a recent procedure." Shockwave apologized to the large gunmetal grey mech. "I promise you will not be disappointed by his performance." The purple scientist expressed to the warlord, as he picked up the red sparkling, placing him at the beginning of the combat testing.
"We shall see." Megatron folded his arms, as the test commenced.
Mirage nervously stared at the terrifying mechs, the whirs of the simulation regaining the sparkling's attention. As the simulator bots fired at him Mirage used his little blades to deflect the shots, deflecting them back at the bots disabling only a couple of them. The red sparkling activated his cloaking, sneaking behind the sim bots quickly slicing all the sensitive wiring that made the simulation bots function.
Megatron's evil grin grew the more Mirage destroyed the simulators. "Tell me Shockwave, is the sparkling the reason you spent days repairing the simulation?"
"Yes my Lord, and with the continuation of my upgrades, Mirage will be an unstoppable force."
While the scary mech's conversed Mirage took advantage of his cloaking, sneaking out of the training arena towards the large, busy, hallways.
"With his agile performance skills, I would highly suggest we focus on advancing him into an assassin. I can equip him with a rifle, with the rate he learns at he will be a feared marksman in days." The evil scientist suggested to the warlord.
"Hmm... I've always thought of snipers as cowards with rifles, but in this case I will absolutely make the acceptation, as I have no doubts that the sparkling can kill, no matter what kind of combat he is in." Megatron agreed with the one opticed mech. "Where is the sparkling?"
"Most likely trying to navigate through the hallway, trying to find his brother." Shockwave replied in an unamused tone.
Mirage leapt out of the way of every ped that nearly crushed him, attempting to find where his big brother trained. He yelped as he was accidentally kicked by an Eradicon soldier, his cloaking deactivating as he rolled across the floor into another large ped.
"What a cunning specimen you are." Megatron venomously complimented picking up the sparkling by it's doorwings, with his large claws.
Mirage curled up in a tight ball as the Warlord held him infront of his terrifying scarred face.
"Indeed..." Shockwave agreed taking the sparkling from Lord Megatron. "See sparkling it does not matter how many times you run, I will always hunt you down!"
Mirage gasped, his frame shot upright in his berth, as he was rudely awoken from another waking nightmare. Mirage cried, tears filling his optics, the image of the mad scientist, lingering in his mind. The youngling grabbed his helm, laying back down he curled up in a tight trembling ball, facing the wall as tears streamed down his face.
Bumblebee sat up with concern, hearing his brother's cries. Feeling the angst from his trembling little brother's spark, Bumblebee quietly left the room.
Soundwave lifted his helm as the door to the room slowly opened, the light from the hallway filling the room.
Bumblebee calmly walked up to the large berth, tapping the violet mech's arm with his digit. "Soundwave?"
"Yes youngling?" Soundwave sat up careful not to wake the slumbering femme.
"I think Mirage had a nightmare." Bumblebee replied leading the mech to his room.
"Thanks for telling me." Soundwave nodded, escorting the yellow scout back into his berth.
"Mirage..." Soundwave called, sitting on the edge of his little brother's berth.
"Shockwave's... Shockwave..." Mirage trembled rolling over to face his brother.
"Alright..." Soundwave sighed scooping up his little brother off the berth. "Goodnight Bee, Mirage will be okay." The violet mech bid the scout goodnight, before carrying his young brother back to his room.
Arcee sat up in the berth rubbing her optics, wakkng to quiet sobs, followed by the door shutting. "Soundwave what's wrong?" She asked as the violet mech sat down on the berth.
"Mirage had a nightmare." Soundwave replied, placing the youngling down next to the femme.
"Aw, come here." Arcee cooed pulling the youngling into a comforting embrace.
"Soundwave... Shockwave's coming to Earth..." Mirage sobbed, his watery cyan blue optics staring into the pitch black visor.
"What?!" Soundwave gasped at what his brother had said.
"Before... I took Shifter out... Shockwave threatened that he was coming here." Mirage cried hiding his face in the femme's side.
"Fuck that's not good..." Soundwave cursed looking away from the femme and youngling.
"Soundwave!" Arcee hissed, elbowing her mech in the side.
"Ow! What?!" Soundwave hissed, rubbing his side.
Arcee narrowed her optics at the violet mech, gesturing to the crying youngling in her arms. "Don't scare him... he's already terrified..." she spoke through her dental plates, giving her mech a pointed glare.
"Uuuh... Shockwave doesn't fly Mirage, he's not going to come here anytime soon." Soundwave tried to reassure the youngling.
"Bu... but... spacebridges..." Mirage cried through hiccups.
"Ffuuuuu... If he travels by spacebridge, he'd have to build one, and Shockwave's just one mech it would take him deca cycles." Soundwave continued to try and sound positive, while Arcee continued to glare at him.
"But... Megatron's...looking for an army. Wha... what if he finds Shockwave and uses his own spacebridge!"
"Okay, Mirage!" Soundwave hissed holding his servos up, silencing the scared youngling.
"Alright, both of you take a deep breath!" Arcee growled silencing the mutant brothers. "Megatron might find Shockwave, Shockwave may find his way here on his own. Either way, you have a whole team to back you up, and protect you."
Both brothers stared silently at the cobalt blue femme. Mulling over what she had said to them.
Arcee sighed tiredly, gazing down at the sleepy youngling. "Let's all get some rest, we can talk more about this tomorrow, okay?" The femme said laying herself and the small youngling down on the berth.
"Okay..." both brothers agreed, too exhausted to argue.
"Goodnight boys." Arcee sighed wrapping her arms around the red youngling in a caring embrace.
Soundwave laid himself next to his femme and youngling brother. Placing an arm over his femme as a loving gesture, protectively blanketing his little brother in the process.
Mirage for once, actually felt comfortable in being trapped. The comforting energy from the two caring bots, soothed his wary spark. Mirage's optics slowly closed, the soothing energy from the couple lulling him into slumber.
A few hours into the night Mirage began to shift uncomfortably, as a pain in his helm became present. The pain was not helped, as he was having another nightmare.
Arcee unconsciously pulled the whimpering youngling closer to her soothing spark, while Soundwave unconsciously caressed the youngling's helm. After a few moments the red youngling returned to a peaceful slumber, allowing the couple to do the same.
Morning soon arrived, surprisingly Soundwave did not wake up before the crack of dawn.
"Agh!" Soundwave groaned, as a smaller frame draped over his own frame.
"Wave, up!" Mirage playfully greeted his stunned brother.
"Shh Mirage... don't wake Arcee." Soundwave yawned rolling onto his back, causing the youngling to land on his abdomen.
"Yeah, he's a youngling Soundwave. He woke me up first." Arcee sat up, stretching her back.
"Whoa, and you didn't belt him, wow!" Soundwave teased, receiving a playful smack from his femme.
"Hey, I'm nice." Arcee retorted as Mirage laughed at them.
"You hear that Mirage, Arcee says she's nice!" Soundwave cooed lifting his youngling brother above him. "She must be the sweetest femme alive!" The violet mech continued to tease the femme, while playfully holding Mirage up in the air.
Mirage giggled as he was held above his brother's frame. "Nicest!" Mirage joined in on teasing the cobalt blue femme.
"You forgot my most greatest power!" Arcee replied in a cartoonish voice, wriggling her digits at the youngling being held.
"What that?" Mirage asked curiously, oblivious to the femme wriggling digits.
"The power of tickles!" Arcee gasped tickling the youngling who shrieked with laughter.
Soundwave quickly placed the flailing youngling down between him and his sparkmate, joining in on the tickle torture.
Mirage giggled madly as he was tickled by the young couple. Trying his best to shield himself from the torture to no avail. "No Wave, Cee stop!"
"Sorry can't hear you over your laughter!" Arcee teased as they continued the torture.
Mirage desperately tried to wriggle away from the tickling digits. His cooling fans clicking on, whirring into high gear, as he whithered with laughter.
"Alright, alright, that's enough now." Arcee laughed stopping the torture, after hearing the whirring of the youngling's cooling fans.
Soundwave chuckled halting his tickling, satisfied with the pure look of joy on his little brother's face.
Mirage's giggling slowed, he couldn't move, weakened from too much laughter.
Soundwave lifted his little brother up, sitting the limp youngling on his lap. "Well I think we're all efficiently awake."
"Yes, I would say so. Come'on lets go before Ratchet thinks you're bleeding internally again." Arcee scoffed getting off the berth.
"Good idea." Soundwave nodded placing his little brother down on the ground, before getting off the berth himself.
Mirage was still weakened from the tickling session, taking a few drunken steps as he followed the young couple into the hallway, where bounced off one of the walls.
Arcee gasped seeing the youngling fall after bouncing off the wall. "Soundwave help him up."
Soundwave turned slightly to see his little brother picking himself up with a laugh. "Alright, let's get you some energon." The violet mech mentally smiled, playfully scooping the red youngling up into his arms.
Mirage giggled as he was lifted into his brother's arms. Wrapping his arms around his brother's neck, tiredly resting his helm on the violet mech's shoulder.
"Good morning, you're up late?" Ironhide greeted as the young couple entered the main room.
"Were they up late, or preoccupied with torturing a certain youngling." Ratchet raised an optic ridge at the young mech holding his little brother.
"We shall never tell." Arcee shrugged with a playful smirk.
Ratchet narrowed his optics at the red youngling being held by the faceless mech. "Soundwave, do you mind placing your brother down over here." the suspicious medic gestured to the medical berth.
"Sure." Soundwave shrugged sitting his youngling brother down on the medical berth.
"No!" Mirage quickly jumped off the berth, trying to make an escape.
"Stop, just sit for a moment." Soundwave grabbed his brother, placing him back on the berth.
"No!" Mirage tried jumping off the berth again.
"Just hold him for me please." Ratchet groaned as Mirage continued to struggle.
"What's the matter Ratchet?" Optimus asked, curious to why the medic was scanning the healthy youngling.
"I'm just checking to see if Mirage is still the same as yesterday." Ratchet replied as Mirage leapt off the berth, into his brother's arms.
"Why, do you think the bomb is effecting him further?" Arcee questioned the medic, while he read the scan results.
"Well when Soundwave reverted into a sparkling, it took a bit for his processor to follow suit. I'm just wondering if has done the same for Mirage." Ratchet explained to the femme.
"He knows us though, well he remembers me I guess, cause Soundwave's his brother." Arcee scoffed at the red and white mech.
"Mirage was already with us at this stage in his life." Ratchet raised an optic ridge at the forgetful femme.
"Oh yeah." Arcee laughed sheepishly as the medic finished going over his scans.
"Yes his processor has definitely reverted back to when he was five cycles." Ratchet thought aloud, placing his servo on his chin.
"Mirage was pretty cheery this morning, considering the nightmares he had last night." Arcee shrugged, while Soundwave placed Mirage back down on the ground.
"Does that mean Mirage is a regular youngling?" Ironhide asked making the old medic roll his optics.
"No Ironhide, it means Mirage is the way he was when he was that age, so it has also effected his memory banks." Ratchet facepalmed with a sigh.
The mention of the loss of Mirage's memory banks, made Soundwave quickly send his little brother his reports and files on where they were, why they were on Earth, and what has happened since their arrival.
"So he's a youngling of mispronunciations, and dark moods?" Ironhide retorted furrowing his optic ridges at the medic.
Mirage read a small amount of the files, before focusing back in on the conversation. He drooped his doorwings hearing what the weapon specialist said, feeling embarrassed that he had a very little vocabulary.
Arcee could see the youngling's embarrassment, she smiled warmly, kneeling next to the sad youngling. "Ironhide you can't be that insensitive to Mirage, he does have audio receptors." Arcee growled at the weapon specialist.
"Ironhide, Arcee is right. Though you're correct Mirage didn't start attempting to communicate with us until he was five cycles, so his speech isn't perfect. But his dark moods were only due to the fact he missed his brother, and wanted to find him." Ratchet agreed with the femme.
"Soundwave's with us now, so he may be less grumpy. Cause we all know our little Mirage, can be quite the spitfire." Arcee teased the young assassin.
"Cee..." Mirage pouted at the cobalt blue femme.
"I'm just teasing Mirage, it's okay." Arcee chuckled hugging the pouty youngling.
Soundwave sadly dipped his helm, turning towards the red and blue mech. "Mirage really didn't start to communicate with any of you until he was five cycles?"
"Yes Soundwave, Mirage was quite traumatized when he arrived at our base. It took him a long time to adjust to our life. Unfortunately since the war was so active then, Mirage's assigned caretaker couldn't always be there, we all had to take turns with him. That was a difficult transition, along with the bullying bots, that feared having a lethal, Decepticon trained, sparkling in our base. He never had the chance to really bond with any of us until he was a youngling." Optimus sadly replied to the upset young mech. "It's alright young mech, Mirage will be doing much better now that you're here." The leader reassured his young apprentice.
"He'll probably be more talkative as well." Arcee added, patting the unamused youngling's helm.
"Done now?" Mirage raised an optic ridge at the five bots that conversed about him.
Yes we're done talking about you now." Ratchet chuckled at the youngling.
"Come'on Mirage lets go wake Bee up." Arcee smiled leading Mirage down the hallway.
"Bee?" Mirage tilted his helm as the femme lead him by the servo.
"Guess Bee's the only one that wasn't around Mirage at this stage." Arcee scoffed.
"Duh, he wasn't even sparked yet." Ironhide retorted to the unamused femme.
"Shut it Hide. Bumblebee is your other older brother Mirage." The femme explained disappearing into the younglings room.
Soundwave silently observed his sparkmate leading his confused little brother. Mentally cursing the mad scientist for ruining his brother's development. With that on his mind, it reminded him that Shockwave was attempting to find his way to this planet.
"Soundwave, are you ready for patrol?" Optimus called the violet mech that seemed to be in deep thought.
"Yes, I um..." Soundwave nodded walking past the Prime to the base exit.
"Hmm?" Optimus tilted his helm curiously at the young mech. He did not question Soundwave at that moment, following the young mech out of the base.
"I swear those brother's get stranger by the day." Ironhide snorted watching both the Prime and the apprentice leave.
"I swear you grow more irritating by the second..." Ratchet muttered under his breath, while prepping his energon detection tools.
"What was that?" Ironhide raised an optic ridge at the medic, walking over to the moody medic.
"I said we're going on an energon hunt, like Optimus asked us to days ago." Ratchet retorted, handing the black mech an energon detector.
"You gotta be kidding me Ratch, this is grunt work. I've got training to do with Bumblebee." Ironhide complained following the medic to the ground bridge.
"Bumblebee can join us when we find, and mine the energon." Ratchet replied firing up the ground bridge. "Arcee!" The old medic yelled for the femme, causing the weapon specialist to wince.
"What, I'm right here?!" Arcee hissed walking over to the grumpy old mech, with both younglings.
"You're in charge while we're gone. Optimus is out with Soundwave, Ironhide and I are searching for energon." Ratchet explained to the cobalt blue femme.
"You're leaving me alone with the twins?" Arcee complained, as both mechs strode towards the glowing bridge.
"Soundwave shouldn't be too long. Just send the twins out on patrol." Ironhide chuckled, leaving through the bridge with his old friend.
Mirage cocked his helm at the weapon specialist's words. Patrol sounded like a good idea, he let go of Arcee's servo, making his way towards the base exit.
"What do you want to do... Hey, where are you going?" Arcee scoffed watching the small red youngling head towards the base exit.
Mirage spun around to face the approaching femme. "Patrol?" He pointed to the exit.
"No... well..." Arcee thought for a moment, some fresh air would be better than sitting in the base waiting to be tortured by the twins. "Why not, but we're going to the nerby canyon it's safest." the femme replied to the young assassin's dismay.
"Okay race you Mirage!" Bumblebee excitedly transformed racing out of the base.
Mirage blinked, stunned as his so called brother peeled out of the base excitedly.
Arcee rolled her optics with a chuckle. "Go after him Mirage." The femme encouraged, nudging the timid young assassin out of the base.
As Soundwave flew, he kept his visual on the red and blue semi truck below him. Going off into deep thought once again, his brother was right to worry about Shockwave's arrival. The mad scientist would find his way to the planet, sooner rather then later.
"Soundwave!" The sound of the loud air horn from the Prime caused the Reaper to change visuals just in time to see the mountain he was about to collide into.
"Shit!" Soundwave cursed pulling up, flying up to the rock mountain to the summit. He transformed, landing at the summit of the mountain.
Optimus transformed waiting for the young mech at the bottom of the mountain.
"Well... that was embarrassing." Soundwave thought aloud, flying down to his leader.
"Are you alright?" Optimus asked as the Reaper transformed into the slender mech.
"Yes sir, I was preoccupied..." the violet mech replied sheepishly.
"What is bothering you young mech?" Optimus asked his apprentice, that looked away from him.
Soundwave sighed, he supposed if anyone should know, it would be Optimus. "I'm just worried about something Mirage had said."
"And what is that?" Optimus continued to carry his usual soft caring tone.
"Shockwave is trying to find his way to Earth. He cannot fly so that hinders his ability to travel, but if Megtron is searching for an army, and finds Shockwave. Without a doubt, Megatron will bridge him here." Soundwave explained trying to hide his obvious fear and panic.
Optimus was silent for a moment, mulling over the information the young mech had told him. "It may be something that happens, as much as you will disagree with me. I believe if Megatron brings Shockwave back to Earth, it would be better then if he were to bring another army here."
Soundwave was quite upset with the fact that Optimus welcomed the warlord bringing the mad scientist to Earth. But he did understand the Prime's point, though he did not like it. "You're right..."
"Soundwave I understand your worry, but please know our team is here for you and your brother. If you feel that you and Mirage cannot face Shockwave, we will honour it." The Prime attempted to reassure the upset young mech.
"Thanks, but I don't think that's going to happen." Soundwave told thd Prime with confidence.
Optimus expression changed from reassurance to concern. He was afraid that Soundwave would say that.
"Before you say anything, no I am not planning on going on a revengeful hunt, once Shockwave sets his peds on Earth." Soundwave scoffed at the Prime, who listened intently. "Vengeance is a fools game, and Shockwave will fall to his own creations. Whether it be Mirage or I, or his own science."
Optimus raised an optic ridge at the young mech, Soundwave's words were beginning to be contradictory.
"I meant in a sense if we were to end up in a battle with Shockwave. Nothing to the extent of hunting him down, unless you order it." Soundwave reassured the Prime's judgement.
"I trust your words Soundwave. I only ask that you keep your brother in check. Mirage, in the past, has had his judgement blinded by vengeance. Leading him to hunt Shockwave down." Optimus sighed, leading the young mech away from the mountain.
"That shouldn't be to difficult, Mirage should have no memory of Shockwave's threat now that his processors reverted." Soundwave thought aloud as Optimus gestured for him to follow.
"We should head back to base now."
Mirage held Arcee's servo like a frightened child, following closely on the femme's side, hiding himself from the scout that walked on the other side of Arcee.
"What's wrong with Mirage Arcee?" Bumblebee asked, trying to look at the shy assassin.
"Mirage's processor has reverted back to what he was like when he was five cycles. You weren't sparked then, so he doesn't know you very well. But don't worry Bee, Mirage will warm up to you eventually." Arcee reassured the confused young scout.
"Aw, I hope he does soon, we had so much fun yesterday." Bumblebee sighed with a smile.
"I saw that, what'd you two get up to yesterday?" Arcee asked the young scout, about the youngling fun they had.
"We dropped a bolder on a Decepti... we raced..." Bumblebee quickly changed his words, but it was already too late. He smiled sheepishly while the femme stared daggers at him.
"You did what to a Decepticon?!" Arcee hissed making Mirage visibly jump.
"We may have dropped a bolder on a Con by accident..." Bumblebee cowered with a nervous laugh.
"What were you doing near the Decepticons?! You know Optimus doesn't want you near them unless you're assigned to them!" Arcee scolded the yellow scout.
"Mirage realized it was a bad idea, we tried to leave, but the Cons saw us. Mirage took them out, everything was fine!" Bumblebee cried out shielding himself with his arms, from the angry femme.
"Argh!" Arcee groaned glaring down at the confused red youngling. "I can't even get angry at you now, you have no recollection from yesterday!"
"I'm sorry Arcee, are you going to tell Optimus?" Bumblebee apologized to the disappointed femme.
"No I won't tell Optimus. Just promise me you won't do it again." Arcee sighed holding her helm with her servo.
"I promise." Bumblebee quickly nodded his helm.
Mirage gazed around scanning the odd surrounding area. His brother's reports had said this planet was called Earth, it seemed peaceful, but dusty, Mirage thought as a gust of wind threw dirt at him.
"Well the twins should be awake by now, better make sure they're not just sitting watching holo videos all day long. Come on you two." Arcee groaned gesturing for the younglings to follow her back to the base.
"What are you doing?" Soundwave asked standing behind the mischievous twins.
"We're setting up a prank on Ratchet... I mean going on patrol!" Sideswipe turned around to see the unamused Prime standing behind the slender mech.
Sunstreaker hissed as he was elbowed by his twin brother. "Ow, what the hell was that... yep that's us off on patrol!" Sunstreaker scrambled out of the base with his twin.
"Hey watch it idiots!" Arcee hissed, almost getting knocked over by the escaping twins.
"Aw I wanted to go with them." Bumblebee whined as the twins blew past them.
"Bumblebee you can join Jazz in the human town. I will help you find him." Optimus said, walking over to his eldest son.
"Okay, I'll wait outside!" Bumblebee eagerly exited back out of the base.
"Where's Ratchet and Ironhide, Arcee?" Optimus asked stopping next to the annoyed femme.
"Energon searching. Sorry Optimus, I've been looking after Bee and Mirage, I haven't had the chance to go on patrol yet." Arcee apologized to her leader, while Mirage walked over to his big brother.
"Do not worry Arcee, just please keep Shockwave off their minds." The red and blue mech replied softly, gesturing to the mutant brothers.
"Sure Optimus, thank you." Arcee returned a smile, thanking the Prime for giving her a break from patrol.
Optimus Prime nodded his helm at the femme, hearing his youngling impatiently revving his engine. The Prime sighed with a chuckle, exiting the base.
"Do you want to play Mirage?" Soundwave turned to face his quiet little brother.
Mirage shrugged shyly at the slender mech, that gestured to a box full of toys. While Arcee rejoined them.
"So what's the plan you two?" Arcee cheerfully asked, gazing at both brothers.
"I don't know, I haven't really gotten a reply yet." Soundwave replied, gesturing at the red youngling with his helm.
"Hmm, you just don't know what to do with yourself do you?" Arcee cooed at the shy smiling youngling. Confusing Soundwave in the process.
"I must have missed something..." the violet mech shook his helm.
"Well Mirage's main focus, was finding you, when he was this young. Now that you're here, he has no reason to ignore learning communication, fun, and play." Arcee replied, lifting some of her mech's confusion.
"Come on Mirage pick something, we can play a game." Soundwave said, sliding his brother to the crate full of toys.
"You pick something Soundwave, Mirage never really engaged with toys." The cobalt blue femme scoffed, while Mirage stared blankly at the toys.
"Alright..." Soundwave started to grab different toys, showing them to his uninterested brother.
Mirage blinked curiously at his brother, wondering what the hell he was doing.
"Any of these enticing to you?" Soundwave sighed feeling ridiculous for pulling out multiple toys for no reason.
"Okay maybe no toys." Arcee shrugged seeing the quiet youngling wasn't interested.
"Good because I have a better idea!" Soundwave quickly turned around, promtly picking up his brother that squeaked in surprise, protesting being picked up. "Oh I'm sorry, I forgot you're a big tough youngling, right?!" the violet mech scoffed playfully at his little brother.
"Wave no!" Mirage tried his hardest to hide his laughter, trying to escape his brother's hold.
"Wow he speaks!" Soundwave teased, giving the youngling a small tickle.
"Soundwave don't be mean." Arcee playfully warned her mech.
"What, I'm just joking. You're being quieter then I am." Soundwave taunted with a laugh, as Mirage continued to attempt escape.
Mirage giggled as Soundwave hung him upside down. He managed to wriggle free from the violet mech's grip, dropping to the floor.
"Soundwave!" Arcee gasped rushing over to the laughing youngling.
"He slipped, honest!" Soundwave exclaimed helping his brother off the ground. "And by the sounds of it he's fine." He snorted as laughter continued to come from his brother.
"Hide and seek?" Mirage asked the couple, slowing his laughter down.
"Not a chance, mister now you see me, now you don't." Arcee cooed pulling the red youngling into a tight hug.
"No Cee!" Mirage giggled squirming out of the femme's vice grip hug.
"Hey don't think you can escape us little one!" Arcee playfully threatened, as Mirage ran to hide in front of the couch. Arcee nodded at her mech to hide himself behind the couch, while she walked around towards the red youngling.
Soundwave sighed, he would have playfully rolled his optics if he could. Crouching himself tightly against the back of the couch, waiting to strike.
"Gotcha!" Arcee gave the unsuspecting young assassin a quick tickle, spooking the youngling.
Mirage shrieked with laughter, sprinting towards the back of the couch where the violet mech waited.
"Agh, Wave!" Mirage gasped as Soundwave caught him.
Soundwave chuckled, standing up straight with his youngling brother still squirming in his servos.
"Told you, you couldn't escape!" Arcee teased approaching with her arms and servos out, ready to tickle.
"Wave help!" Mirage cried as the femme tickled his hanging peds.
"How can I help you? I can move you here!" Soundwave playfully asked, lifting Mirage above his helm, making the little youngling shrill with laughter. "Or maybe here?" Soundwave continued to speak in a playful tone, lowering his brother to the left, closer to Arcee.
"No Wave, up, up!" Mirage squeaked as he was tickled by the femme.
"Okay, up we go!" Soundwave replied to his little brother's pleas, playfully tossing and catching his brother above his helm.
Mirage giggled madly, as he was tossed above Soundwave's helm, then caught again. While the cobalt blue femme continued to attempt to tickle him. His frame getting overheated from all the excitement and laughter.
Hearing the youngling's cooling fans click on into high gear, told the young couple it was time to calm down with the play. "Alright that's enough of that." Soundwave exhaled, catching, and holding, his tired little brother in his arms.
"Yes, it's time to settle down for a bit." Arcee agreed, sitting herself down on the couch.
Soundwave cradled the small youngling in his arms, before joining his femme on the couch.
"Well I think we successfully tired someone out." Arcee cooed, smiling at the exhausted youngling cradled in one of her mech's arms.
"You can power down for a nap little red, we won't wake you." Soundwave cooed to his little brother. Using his free arm to wrap around Arcee's waist, pulling her into his side.
"No!" Mirage protested against having a nap, pushing himself up, sitting upright on Soundwave's lap.
"Alright, alright. Let's watch something on the holo vid then." Arcee chuckled switching the holo video on.
Mirage pouted, adjusting himself to see the holo video. The holo video played what the twins were watching last, which was humans playing some horror game.
"Primus, turn it to something different..." Soundwave groaned seeing the so called monster that resembled him.
"Ugh, I don't know how the twins can watch this scrap." Arcee shook her helm changing the channel to a nature show.
Mirage sighed gazing up at his brother's visor, with an unamused glare.
"What?" Soundwave tilted his helm at his bored little brother.
"Train?" Mirage asked hopping off his brother's lap.
Soundwave wasn't surprised by his brother's question. The violet mech looked over to his sparkmate, who gave a frown in return.
"Sure..." Soundwave replied to Arcee's disliking.
"Soundwave, can't we find something else to do?" Arcee scoffed, as the brother's made their way to the training room.
"Okay, what do you suggest then?" Soundwave replied turning around to face the cobalt blue femme.
"Oh sure put me on the spot like that, thanks Soundwave..." Arcee hissed, with an optic roll.
Soundwave shrugged innocently at his irritated femme, while Mirage grew impatient.
"Train..." Mirage whined tugging on his brother's servo.
Arcee furrowed her optic ridges at the brother's. "Ugh, fine whatever." she groaned, brushing past the brother's to the training room.
"She mad?" Mirage smirked up at the violet mech.
"Let's just say she'll probably enjoy beating on me during sparring." Soundwave retorted, escorting the red youngling to the training room.
"You got that right Slender Man." Arcee sarcastically scoffed, folding her arms at the slender mech.
"Slender Man?" Soundwave curiously cocked his helm at the sarcastic femme. "Oh... that stupid thing the twins were watching last night..." Soundwave shook his helm with a sigh approaching his moody sparkmate. "You're one funny femme."
Mirage rolled his optics at the couple, activating the simulation targets.
"Agh, Mirage!" Arcee gasped as the simulation guns fired at them.
"Brat!" Soundwave chuckled, shielding Arcee with one of his arms, firing at the shooting targets.
Mirage fired his dart rifle, easily taking out two of the targets.
Soundwave thought he'd make things interesting, releasing his tentacles, attempting to catch the little red youngling.
Mirage bent over backwards narrowly missing a violet striped tentacle, while firing at another target. Before leaping over the second approaching tentacle. Taking out the last two targets, Mirage smirked, as the tentacles continued to give chase, he quickly darted behind the mech and femme.
"You can run, but I will catch you!" Soundwave taunted, his tentacles continuing to follow the youngling.
Mirage ran another full circle around the couple, before doing a taunting leap over his big brother. Mirage halted in front of Soundwave, folding his arms with a smirk as the tentacles fast approached him, before snapping to a halt inches away from the red youngling.
"Argh, Soundwave!" Arcee hissed as she was squeezed against the slender mech's frame, in the tangled mess.
Mirage rolled on the floor, laughing hysterically at the tangled couple.
"Ugh... sorry Arcee! Mirage you're a smartass!" Soundwave groaned trying to untangle himself and Arcee.
"I thought I heard you three down here..." Optimus stopped a few feet away from the tangled couple, raising an optic ridge in confusion.
"Soundwave got carried away, and Mirage pulled a smartass stunt." Arcee groaned trying to wriggle free.
"I see." Optimus hummed, helping Soundwave untangle his tentacle mess.
"Thanks Optimus." Soundwave sighed, as both him and Arcee broke free.
"Scrap head!" Arcee teased playfully hugging the red youngling.
"Ah, no Cee!" Mirage giggled as he was playfully swung around.
"Where's Bumblebee?" Arcee sighed, stopping the playful swaying of the young assassin.
"With Jazz, I believe Ratchet and Ironhide were just arriving when I returned." Optimus replied, while Soundwave retracted his tentacles back into his torso.
"Come on target, let's go see the old ones..." Arcee sighed, attempting to escort the youngling out of the training room, before Mirage angrily leapt away from her, giving her an even angrier glare. "What's the matter with you?" Arcee asked, confused as to why the youngling was all of a sudden walking away, very cross with her.
"If my records are correct, Target, was a name the ariel bots mocked him with, due to the irony of Mirage being a bright red espionage specialist." Soundwave mentioned, answering his femme's confusion.
"Oh, right this was around the time Air Raid began torturing him. I'm sorry Mirage I didn't mean it." Arcee apologized, while they all entered the main room.
Mirage sighed, giving Arcee a small nod of acknowledgement.
"We searched all bloody day, just to find nothing!" Ironhide huffed, tossing the energon detector into the med bay.
"We weren't able to find any energon Optimus. With the Decepticons in power, it's incredibly difficult to find. We may have better luck tomorrow. I'll have to boost the sensors on our detectors." Ratchet defeatedly greeted the Prime.
"Hmm... Soundwave, can you take flight, and see if you can find an energon source?" Optimus asked the young mech, while Mirage took interest in the subject.
"Of course Sir." Soundwave nodded with a reply.
"Great, that makes things easier." Ratchet shrugged, happy he didn't have to hunt for energon.
Soundwave nodded with a chuckle at the medic, before walking towards the base exit.
"Wave, me to?" Mirage asked tugging on his brother's arm.
"Suuuure... no..." Soundwave looked over at his glaring sparkmate, who shook her helm no.
Optimus agreed with the femme, he did not want Mirage roaming around, in search of Deceptions, during an energon run.
"Come on Mirage we can watch something on the holo video, or play a game with Bee when he gets back." Arcee suggested, guiding the young assassin away from the violet mech.
"Thank you Soundwave." Optimus thanked his apprentice while the twins, Jazz, and Bumblebee entered the base.
Soundwave nodded walking past the small group, while exiting the base by himself.
"Where's he off to on his own?" Sunstreaker scoffed watching the slender mech exit the base.
"He's scouting for energon, Sunstreaker." Ironhide replied, as Ratchet grumpily picked up the energon detector that he threw.
"Should we really trust him to go alone?" Sunstreaker questioned, suspiciously.
"Why shouldn't he be trusted? Soundwave hasn't given us any reason to be suspicious of him, and his activities." Arcee growled at the golden twin.
"No need to get defensive Arcee. I'm just saying are we sure he's not going to trade secrets, with the ones he was most loyal to for deca cycles?" Sunstreaker retorted to the angry femme.
"Sunstreaker, your scepticism is unnecessary. Soundwave is a valiant mech for joining the Autobot cause, with the high price on his head for treason. I highly doubt our Communications Chief is looking to go back Megatron." Optimus sternly spoke towards Sunstreaker, before the femme and twin began a heated argument.
"I guess you're right..." Sunstreaker grumbled unwillingly agreeing with the Prime, walking over to the couch with his twins.
Mirage snuck away from Arcee during the small argument, standing at the exit, like a dog waiting for it's master to return home.
"Here Bee, pick something to play, so we can occupy worried bot over there." Arcee spoke to the yellow scout, gesturing over to the waiting young assassin.
Soundwave flew through the evening sky, darkness taking over the valley and skies, as the sun disappeared over the horizon. "Alright you can help me with my search, it should make things a little easier." Soundwave thought aloud, releasing Lazerbeak into the night sky.
Lazerbeak happily flew off ahead, Soundwave didn't mind though, he preferred for his beloved pet to scout ahead. It gave them both a chance to search a wider range of areas.
"Look who's up and running, after our last encounter." A pitch black alien jet, retorted to the ariel commander whom he flew next to.
"Hmm... Lord Megatron would be most pleased to have welcome home gift." Starscream mentally sneered, keeping his visuals on the violet Reaper below. "He must be searching for something since he hasn't detected us yet. Knockout, command the pilots to bring the ship to our location." Starscream commanded over the comlink.
"Commander Starscream, why call the ship, when we can take him?" Makeshift scoffed, as they continued to trail the violet mech.
"Because we need heavy artillery, he recovered from the bomb pretty quickly. And unlike you, Soundwave is more then meets the eye. He actually finished his training, and like you experienced in your last encounter, he's quite capable of defeating most that challenge him." Starscream hissed, insulting the shapeshifter.
"Soundwave's little brother never completed his training, and yet most fear him. Why am I so low balled?" Makeshift spat, as the Nemesis hovered over them.
"Because, you imbecile, Mirage was intensely trained, and altered, from moment he was practically sparked. He advanced past yours, and Soundwave's training, in the first few weeks of starting him. The only one to ever match the sparkling in battle, was Soundwave." Starscream groaned in annoyance, flying up to the Nemesis.
Makeshift sighed, unwillingly following the Seeker Commander onto the Decepticon war ship.
Soundwave's energon detection systems began to go haywire, as something began to scramble his systems. "The hell?" The Reaper was confused, wondering if he was still receiving ill effects from the bomb.
"Fire the guns, and make sure to take him down with multiple shots, he has the shielding of a leviathan. I want him immobilized." Starscream venomously commanded, as he stepped into the bridge of the ship.
"Lucky enough for us, the ship is equiped with a stasis beam, I would suggest hitting him with the fusion canons first, to slow him down though." Makeshift thought aloud surprising the seeker. "Yes, there are weapons not even our Lordship knows about. I know Soundwave kept them in top shape, let's see how they work shall we?" The pitch black mech sneered turning to the Commander.
"Yes, let's do that..." Starscream narrowed his optics, before giving the signal to the pilots.
"Fragging hell... Soundwave to base, I've lost track of the energon I was tracking..." Soundwave stopped as all he received was static over the comlink. "Scrap something is scrambling my signal..." before Soundwave could react to noticing the Nemesis, three fusion canon shots were fired, getting a direct hit on him. The first shots taking down his shielding, while the third sent him plummeting to the Earth's ground.
"That seemed to knock him out." Knockout retorted as he entered the bridge.
"I'm not taking any chances with him, hit him with the stasis ray!" Starscream demanded, turning back to the visual of the violet mech attempting to pick himself up from the ground.
Lazerbeak watched as his master was shot by the stasis ray, immobilizing Soundwave. Lazerbeak twittered with rage, but knew he could do nothing. He quickly turned tail, making sure nothing followed him, he hastily flew back to base.