Optimus Prime sighed, watching as Ratchet scanned the spark extractor, Mirage had obtained from Megatron.
"It's good that there are locater beacons on these relics, shall the undesirable find them first." Ratchet mentioned.
Optimus didn't respond to the medic's comment. Yes it proved useful that the relics had Autobot locater beacons, for if they were unearthed. But Optimus worried there would be much bloodshed in this race against time. For each relic uncovered, there were to be a battle that comes with it.
"Argh, it was within my grasp! I should've destroy more then that assassin's voice box, when I had the chance!" Megatron voiced his frustrations.
Soundwave shook his helm hearing his father voice his frustrations about his brother. Mirage was cunning, and resilient, it must've frustrated both Shockwave and Megatron, that their only other super soldier, was successfully against them. "Mirage's voice box has repaired since the..."
"Silence! Your voice box isn't as resilient, and is already damaged, would you like me to finish it off?!" Megatron threatened, viciously grabbing his youngling by the throat.
Soundwave gasped as he felt the massive servo crushing his throat. Shaking his helm no, while fuses popped in his voice box.
"That's what I thought!" Megatron released his youngling, turning his back on the violet youngling.
Soundwave coughed up a small amount of energon, as he stood back up from his knees. Trying to please his father, he displayed the two other relic coordinates they had yet to explore.
Hearing beeping come from behind, Megatron turned to face his youngling. "Yes Soundwave, we still have two other locations, that Orion Pax decrypted before leaving our ranks." He looked at the map displayed on Soundwave's visor. "But Mirage will be sent after us, when our relics have been unearthed. We need to take that youngling down..."
"Shockwave, I need to speak with you immediately." Megatron said over his comlink.
"Yes Lord Megatron?" The one optic mech walked in the bridge.
Soundwave cautiously watched as Shockwave walked up next to him.
"Do you have a locater beacon?" Megatron asked the purple mech.
"Yes." Shockwave nodded handing Megatron what he asked for.
"Soundwave, send Lazerbeak to monitor for any of Mirage's activity. Then take this, and plant it somewhere nearby the stupid youngling." Megatron ordered, handing the locater beacon to the violet youngling.
Soundwave nodded, releasing his surveillance drone. Lazerbeak flew out of the bridge, and out of the ship, in search of the assassin.
"You may return to your decoding until Lazerbeak reports in." Megatron told his silent youngling.
Soundwave gladly left the two scheming mechs, sorely striding down the hallway. Internally groaning when he caught sight of Makeshift, and Airachnid. Hoping he could escape their insults, the youngling quickly ducked into one of the recreational rooms.
"I'm second in command, and yet I'm still lower than a disappointing, confused, youngling." Airachnid complained.
"Trust me I've been in the Shadow of Soundwave, practically my whole life." Makeshift scoffed as they stopped in front of the door.
"That was your own fault you imbecile. If you weren't a coward, and finished your training, you would at least be half as useful as Soundwave." Airachnid retorted to the pitch black mech.
"Please, Shockwave only dealt with Mirage and Soundwave. He didn't care for the rest of us in that program. He didn't care that all his project younglings died, as long as he had Soundwave and Mirage." Makeshift shook his helm.
"He doesn't have Mirage, only Soundwave..." Airachnid snorted, about to enter the rec room.
"You don't think since Shockwave's experiment really worked on Soundwave? Shockwave would be stupid enough to try the same with Mirage?"
"From the sounds of it, Soundwave's continuing to be loyal, but questionable at the same time. Getting Mirage would be foolish, yes." Makeshift rolled his optics.
"By the sounds of it, Lord Megatron is trying to put that to the test." Airachnid said as they entered the rec room.
Soundwave watched the two walk past him. Sneaking out of the room, before the door could shut. The violet youngling was curious to what had really happened to him. Did he really just wake from stasis, or was he really part of the Autobots, and recaptured for Decepticon use? With too many thoughts going through his helm, he could barely pay attention to decoding the database.
Later on Lazerbeak returned to the ship, the drone attached itself to Soundwave's torso and began downloading data about the assassin's whereabouts. Once the download was complete Soundwave sent the report to Megatron and Shockwave.
"Soundwave, lock onto Shockwave's position, and send the ground bridge!" Megatron ordered over the comlink.
Soundwave groaned, doing as he was commanded. He felt all he was good for was just being a ground bridge, and a pretend archivist.
"What do you mean you lost Mirage?!" Arcee hissed at the weapon specialist.
"I was driving to his position as fast as I could, but when I got there, Mirage was gone. And the only thing left was a locater beacon." Ironhide exclaimed to the angered femme.
"After what Mirage did to Megatron this morning, he's as good as scrap metal!" Sideswipe mentioned as Optimus Prime finally joined the panicking group.
"Yes Megatron was furious that the spark extractor was removed from his possession. But it stems for me to believe that Megatron has more sinister intentions, seeing the success with Soundwave." Optimus mentioned.
"You think Megatron's getting Shockwave to do the same thing he did to Soundwave, to Mirage?" Arcee questioned.
"Keep Soundwave away from my laboratory, until I have fully created a bond with Mirage, and return him to his youngling state." Shockwave turned to the warlord, who placed the unconscious red youngling on the medical berth.
"Understood Shockwave, I don't think that will be hard to do." Megatron smirked, leaving the scientist to his project.
"Stupid..." Shockwave thought aloud, he knew this project was asinine, as Mirage was never in the Decepticon ranks during the war. Therefore there was no way of convincing Mirage to stay and fight on their side. "Perhaps I should take a different approach..." he thought, thinking reprogramming the youngling may convince him to be on their side.
Soundwave worked tirelessly on decoding the next set of coordinates, he was sore, and barely functional. He was covered in dried up energon, that had bled from him when Megatron had beaten him so aggressively. Megatron had moved him to the bridge, to monitor his progress, having him nearby for if he needed something from the youngling.
"Ah, excellent work Knockout." Megatron praised the medic for retrieving the next relic.
"I live to serve, Lord Megatron. Breakdown and I retrieved the relic rather easily. Those idiot twins are cockier than Starscream." Knockout said as he approached his master. "I'm not to sure what it does though?" Knockout quizzically examined the colourful device in his servo.
Megatron smirk firing his canon at the red medic.
Soundwave was so sore, he could barely look over his shoulder, to see the device in medic's servo deploy a shield, ricocheting the blast off the shield. Soundwave moved out of the way as the blast flew by his shoulder, bursting into the observation screens.
"Now you know." Megatron continued to smirk.
"I think I leaked a little transmission fluid." Knockout nervously laughed.
[And I am going to have to repair that monitor] Soundwave thought to himself, as he continued his work.
"Knockout, since you and Breakdown have been so successful in retrievals, why don't you two get to the next set of coordinates and retrieve the next relic." Megatron said to the sheepish medic.
"Of course my Lord, I will go find Breakdown." Knockout bowed exiting the bridge with Soundwave in tow.
"Where exactly are running off to Soundwave?" Megatron questioned why the young mech was limping away from his post.
Soundwave simply pointed to the sparking monitor, before continuing out the exit.
"Fine..." Megatron hissed, knowing his youngling would not continue decoding unless all repairs were completed.
Mirage woke up to a sharp pain, as Shockwave began to cut him open and dissect him. Using his blade he slashed the mech across the chest, batting him away in the process.
"Mirage!" Shockwave hissed grabbing his EMP blaster.
"I don't think so you psycho!" Mirage quickly blasted the EMP out of the scientist's servo, before leaping off the berth, running out of the laboratory.
Activating his cloaking Mirage easily snuck past the Decepticons roaming the halls. Soundwave being one of them, as he rounded the corner into an empty corridor.
Mirage followed his brother into the storage room, deactivating his cloak. "Soundwave!"
Soundwave spun around defensively, ready to destroy his stalker.
"Chill out, I'm not here to kill you." Mirage hissed in a whisper. "I'm trying to escape, Megatron, and Shockwave knocked me out, and turned me into a science project." The red youngling explained. "They were probably trying to do the same thing they did to you, but on me."
Soundwave lowered his weapon. "What did they do to me?"
"Shockwave turned you into a sparkling, so him and Megatron could create a spark bond with you, and trick you back into the Decepticon ranks!" Mirage exclaimed to his older brother.
Soundwave turned his helm away from his brother, that would explain the false spark bond between him and Shockwave. But wait, then what Starscream said, was true then. "Was I an Autobot?"
"You were a Prime apprentice, Optimus was training you to become the next Prime!" Mirage excitedly expressed to his brother. "Megatron was trying to kill you because of it! But then he exploded in the space bridge explosion, and was practically offline, while Shockwave and Starscream took over the Cons. You wouldn't be alive on this ship, if Shockwave hadn't convinced Megatron that his experiment worked this time. I'm positive when Megatron rose off that berth, he wanted to kill you, and you were just a defenceless sparkling then."
Soundwave for some reason believed his little brother. It all began to make sense now, he couldn't believe he was a Prime apprentice. As for Shockwave, it made sense as to why he had a false spark connection with him, and a dissipating bond with Megatron. The warlord hadn't changed, and he had proved that earlier this day.
"And by the looks of it he already has you close to offline." Mirage gestured to his brother's dented, bloody, frame. "Come home with me, you don't belong here, you don't deserve this." The youngling assassin begged his brother.
Soundwave's bondless spark began to beat with odd zapping, as if trying to awaken a lost bond. The violet mech thought for a moment, he couldn't just get up and leave the Decepticons, could he? Thinking deeper, did Megatron really want him, was he just being used as a tool to gain access to relics? And what would happen to him after all the relic coordinates had been decrypted, would Megatron murder him, since he so obviously threatened that he was only alive because he can decode the Iacon Database.
"Shockwave report in!" Megatron screamed as Soundwave picked up on the comlink conversation.
"Mirage has escaped my laboratory, he is still aboard." Shockwave replied.
"Soundwave hasn't returned from the storage depot..." Megatron growled.
"I will meet you there, Lord Megatron." Shockwave replied ending the call.
Mirage stood staring at his brother in deep thought. He visibly jumped when a ground bridge appeared next to him.
"Let's go." Soundwave said, shoving his brother through the bridge.
"SOUNDWAVE!" Megatron screamed as the bridge shut just as he stepped into the storage room.
"Agh!" Shockwave yelped as Megatron pinned him against the wall.
"You bring those two aboard my ship again, I will kill all three of you! Is that understood!?" Megatron yelled tightening his grip.
"Yes my liege!" Shockwave hissed as he was released.
"No more experiments, unless I approve of them! Now you're the only one that can possibly decipher these codes!"
"Soundwave are you going to be okay?" Mirage asked trying to help the collapsed young mech off the ground.
Soundwave pushed off the ground standing on all fours. "Yeah, creating the bridge took a lot out of me... I'll be alright in a..." Soundwave hissed in pain, as a wave of pain burned through his frame.
"You're not okay..." Mirage sighed, turning his life signature on.
"Ratchet, Optimus!" Arcee called, as Mirage's life signature appeared on the monitor.
"Mirage's signal has reappeared." Ratchet gasped reading the monitor.
"With a very faint signature as well." Optimus pointed out. "Ratchet, Arcee, let's go. Twins, you cover us, make sure no Decepticons are nearby."
"Sure thing Optimus. Huh, what's with the faint signature?" Sideswipe questioned.
"Mirage either is in the middle of killing someone, or Soundwave escaped with him." Sunstreaker scoffed as the ground bridge fired up, getting a glare from the femme, as he followed the team through the bridge.
"Sunstreaker, you're someone that's better being seen, not heard." Arcee rolled her optics.
"Optimus, Arcee!" Mirage waved the team over.
"Mirage!" All Autobots had their weapons drawn, on high alert, as they protectively surrounded the two younglings.
Soundwave weakly tried to get to his peds, ending up flat on the ground.
Ratchet rolled Soundwave onto his back. The medic didn't hesitate to look over the damage inflicted on the violet mech. "Don't move Soundwave, we'll help you."
"Why?" Soundwave asked weakly, as the medic examined his damage.
"Because we care about you enough to keep you alive." Sideswipe mention as he scanned the area with his optics.
Soundwave kept silent, as Ratchet finally pulled him off the ground.
"Ironhide send a bridge." Optimus ordered as the team gathered.
Sitting the silent youngling down on the medical berth, Ratchet did a more thorough exam on Soundwave.
Arcee had to walk away from the med bay, seeing her mech in such a damaged state was too upsetting to look at.
"Arcee?" Optimus placed a servo on the femme's shoulder.
"I can't stand to see him like this. Soundwave doesn't even know who he is, and he looks like death." Arcee voiced her thoughts to the Prime.
"You were all able to restore my memories. I believe we can do the same for Soundwave." Optimus reassured the femme.
"Hmm... you're missing quite a bit of your memories." Ratchet pondered over his scans. "Tell me what you remembered last, before the Decepticons captured you."
"I don't remember the capture, or being with you guys. I only remember my training, nothing after that. Megatron said I went into stasis..." Soundwave weakly replied.
"Pfft... of course he did, the liar. You had a whole life before this Soundwave. On Cybertron you were the Decepticon spymaster, you changed your mind when you captured Mirage for the last time, and you joined the Autobots." Ratchet began to explain.
"Yeah you were Arcee's muse!" Sunstreaker snickered with his twin.
"No, but in all seriousness, you were with Arcee. You were our second in command, and Optimus's apprentice." Sideswipe mentioned with a laugh.
"Alright you two, shut it. Soundwave's missing a lot of his memories, and needs time to recover from his wounds, so leave him alone!" Ratchet hissed at his adopted sons.
"Is Soundwave going to be alright Ratchet?" Arcee asked with concern.
"Yes Soundwave will be a bit sore for some time, his frame is recovering slower than usual, but he will make a full recovery." The medic replied patching up Soundwave's wounds.
Soundwave was silent staring at the crowd around him. Noticing the femme seemed intently concerned for him, while the others seemed relatively alright with him being in their base. Plus the medic wasn't opposed to giving him medical attention, even though he didn't ask for it.
"Sunny, Sides, come'on time for patrol." Jazz waved the twins over to the base exit.
"Ugh... fine..." the twins groaned going over to the grey mech.
"I'm coming with." Arcee said, following the three mechs out. She couldn't stand to see Soundwave so oddly confused by everything.
"Mirage, Bumblebee is with Ironhide in the training room. Go let him know you're alright, he was worried about you." Optimus suggested to his youngling.
"Yes, of course." Mirage nodded, giving his nervous brother a small smile, before disappearing down the hallway.
Soundwave sat up nervously, watching his brother leave him with the medic and Prime.
"Easy Soundwave, we aren't going to dissect you." Ratchet said lightheartedly feeling the nervousness radiating from the violet youngling.
After a while of scans, and small procedures, Ratchet had done what he could to help the young mech heal.
"Optimus?" Soundwave turned his helm to his Uncle.
"Yes youngling?" Optimus replied sitting on the medical berth across from the young mech.
"Why are you all so nice, and trusting towards me?" Soundwave asked, receiving chuckles from the Prime and CMO.
Soundwave visibly shrunk himself, feeling like he was a joke, he was out of place here. He was out of place everywhere.
"Sorry youngling, we did not mean to laugh at you." Ratchet apologized.
"You are a teammate, a member of our family, and my apprentice." Optimus said as he walked over to Soundwave.
"I..." Soundwave didn't know how to reply to his Uncle's words.
"Soundwave I am not going to force you to be an Autobot. If you choose to stay with Megatron, we will accept that, and allow you to part ways peacefully, until our next meeting on the battlefield." Optimus Prime told the young mech.
Soundwave nodded, the Prime's words began to make him question where his loyalty lay. The Autobots were incredibly inviting, and trusting. Where's his Father, and the rest of the Decepticon army either envied him, or despised him for who he was. Which seemed to be nothing more than Megatron's snitch, and punching bag. But why were the Autobots so kind to him, they were so caring and kind, it almost felt false. But there were many holes Shockwave and Megatron tried to hide from him, Starscream's words to Orion Pax, spoke the truth he believed. He must've converted over to the Autobots at some point, why else would Megatron, and Shockwave, be so obsessively worried about his loyalty, when he devoted so much of himself to their causes. And if he returned now, would he have permanently written his own death?
Optimus stared at the young mech in deep thought. Soundwave had a lot to think about this time around, he was loyal to Megatron for some time after his capture, it would be questionable if he did return.
"Soundwave, you're back too!" Bumblebee's excited voice brought Soundwave out of deep thought.
"No hugs, Soundwave's quite tender and sore at the moment." Ratchet said just in case the enthusiastic youngling wanted to share his physical excitement.
Soundwave remained silent as the two younglings entered the room with the large weapon specialist.
"He doesn't remember being with us..." Mirage mentioned to his brother.
"Oh..." Bumblebee's excitement deflated. "Did Megatron remove his memories again?"
"Something like that..." Mirage nodded, knowing his older brother was listening to their conversation.
Hearing engines roaring, the masked youngling turned his helm towards the entrance, seeing the patrol team returning.
"No sign of any Cons, they must be focusing on their relic hunting." Sunstreaker mentioned as they transformed.
"We're going to catch some rest, before they unearth the next one." Jazz mentioned following the twins down the hallway.
"You're not the only ones that need it." Arcee gestured her helm at the two younglings standing near the hallway.
"Uh right, come'on you two. Go on, go recharge." Ironhide said, escorting the protesting younglings.
"Oh come'on!" Mirage whined, looking back at Soundwave.
"You can see him in the morning." Arcee smiled at the red youngling.
Mirage sighed, thinking perhaps Arcee could jog some of Soundwave's memories.
"Old friend, we're all in need of some much needed rest." Optimus gestured for the medic to follow him down the hallway.
"Yes, but Soundwave..."
"I'll monitor him." Arcee volunteered.
Ratchet nodded, walking towards the hallway.
"If you have any questions, do not hesitate to come ask me Soundwave." Optimus told the young mech, before disappearing down the hallway.
Arcee did her utmost to not pour out her feelings towards the violet mech laying on the medical berth. Acting as casual as she could, she sat on a crate near the medical monitors, reviewing Soundwave's damage report.
Soundwave tried to ignore the femme, although she could not see his face behind his visor, he kept his gaze straight forward, away from the femme next to him.
Looking over the dried up energon that had bled over the violet frame, Arcee gave a deep sigh, getting up from her seat, she began to rummage through the medical supplies.
Soundwave curiously watched as the femme collected a dish, some cleaning fluid, and a rag. Warming the cleaning fluid, to activate better cleaning properties.
Moving the crate closer to the mech's bedside, Arcee poured the warm cleaning fluid into the dish. Dipping the rag in the dish, she wrung out the excess fluid and slowly moved the cloth towards the bloody, beaten, frame.
Soundwave tensed his frame, shrinking it as much as he could before the warm cloth could touch him.
Arcee stopped before the cloth could touch the frame. "Sorry, I'm going to get you cleaned up." She apologized for not mentioning that earlier.
Soundwave gave a small nod, his body staying rigid as the femme's cloth began to wipe away the dried bled energon.
"What Megatron does to you, isn't just..." Arcee shook her helm, as she cleaned the tremendous amount of bloody energon.
Soundwave tilted his helm, surprised the femme knew it was Megatron who did this to him.
"Don't be so surprised, I know a lot about how he treats you. You used to wake in the middle of the night with nightmares about Megatron and Shockwave's abuse." Arcee mentioned with a small smile.
Soundwave turned his helm away embarrassed, he still had those nightmares. But nobody knew about them except for him.
"You still have them, and so does your brother." Arcee continued to mention to the silent young mech. "A cruel curse, Shockwave, and Megatron have burdened upon you two."
Soundwave flinched in pain as Arcee went over a very sensitive wound.
"Sorry Soundwave!" The femme apologized quickly removing the rag from the wound.
Taking a deep breath, Soundwave turned his helm to the femme. "How do you know about all that?"
Arcee gave a sympathetic smile. "You used to wake me in the night when you were having nightmares. And so did Mirage, before you joined our side."
"How did you know Megatron corrected me for my insubordination?"
Arcee's smile soon turned to an angered frown. "Corrected you? Soundwave, he beat you with no remorse. With all that you do for that monster, he almost kills you, for slipping up once?!"
"It is more complicated then that..." Soundwave mumbled.
"No, it's wrong." Arcee corrected. "Soundwave, you're such a caring, sweet, charismatic, young mech. You don't deserve to be surrounded by, bullies, and monsters, that hate and use you for your amazing processor."
Soundwave snorted. "You must be talking about a Soundwave from an alternate universe. All I'm known for is being a feared murder, a class A spymaster, and nothing else."
"You're wrong. Megatron just makes you repress who you really are." The femme shook her helm. "I wish there was a way for you to recollect your memories." Arcee sighed continuing to clean the mech's frame.
Soundwave shook his helm, the femme had to be lying to him.
"Huh, looks like Lazerbeak didn't take any damage from Megatron." Arcee noted as she cleaned around the drone.
"I knew Megatron would be furious with me, so I told him to wait in my quarters under my berth." Soundwave said to the femme.
Arcee was about to comment on how wrong that situation was, but had another thought come to her. "Lazerbeak!"
Soundwave visibly jumped at the femme's sudden outburst.
"Sorry. But Lazerbeak can restore your memories, he must have them filed away!" Arcee's excitement continued to grow. "He did it before, but this time he was with you. Maybe it messed with him a little bit, when you were turned into a sparkling. But hopefully he just went into a remission."
"I don't understand..." Soundwave was confused by the femme's words.
"Tell Lazerbeak to restore all memory databanks, I'm positive he's got the memories of when you were with us." Arcee told the confused mech.
Soundwave shrugged getting Lazerbeak to transfer all memory files to him. Having all those memories flash together with the new ones he had created over his capture, began to overwhelm him.
Ratchet walked in to shut the monitors down, seeing the violet mech grab at his helm in pain. "What's going on here?"
"Lazerbeak is sending Soundwave's memory databanks to him." Arcee mentioned with concern.
"Soundwave's a cycle behind the memories with us. Not being at the right age for those files, could fry his processor." Ratchet hissed at the femme
"But Mirage is way younger then he was before, and he's got the memories of everything that happened at his original stage." Arcee mentioned as the download finally finished.
"Soundwave are you alright?" Ratchet ignored the femme.
"Yes Ratchet, I am. Why was I serving Megatron again, and how is he alive?" Soundwave asked with his rebooted memories.
"You were captured by Shockwave, as sparkling, and when he returned you to your youngling state. It had wiped all of your memories with us, making you not question why you were with the Decepticons once more." Ratchet explained, noting that the memory surge did not recognize when he reverted into a sparkling.
Soundwave felt dizzy, as he recollected his thoughts. His spark felt empty, he had no connections, or bonds, he only felt a very unnoticeable presence with his brother's spark. "Why do I lack spark bonds?"
"Shockwave's grand scheme was to build his own spark bond with you, as when you were in your sparkling stage you had no bonds to connect to, making your spark vulnerable." Ratchet explained as he scanned the beaten frame. "But that vulnerable sparkling spark has seemed to carryover to your youngling state." The CMO pondered over his scans.
"Soundwave's a sparkling at spark?" Arcee asked trying not to laugh.
"No he's not childish... not all of the time at least... But my point is his spark is weak, like a sparkling without a creators to bond with, and receive sustenance." Ratchet explained to the femme.
"So I have a weak spark?" Soundwave quizzically asked.
"Putting it simply, yes. Without a spark bond your spark will fade, and cease to function." Ratchet told the young mech.
"Well that sucks..." Soundwave thought aloud.
"It does, but you've got many bots to bond with here. You just have to reignite them." Arcee encouraged her mech.
"Optimus would be your strongest point to start with, even though you and your brother were closer. Mirage's spark is incredibly hard to fuse a bond with, so try Optimus first. I know you and Arcee were creating a bond, but that took quite some time for you to build, since you're just as closed off as your brother." The medic mentioned as he shut down the monitors.
"Sure Ratchet." Soundwave sighed, everything still felt disoriented. His memories were all settling in his processor.
"Well now that we can fully trust you, let's go to bed." Arcee coaxed her sore mech off the medical berth.
"Agh... sure..." Soundwave hissed in pain as he followed Arcee down the hallway.
"Arcee let Soundwave rest here." Ratchet scoffed at the femme.
"No, no. I'm fine Ratchet." Soundwave reassured the medic, as he was dragged into his room.
"How's your helm Soundwave?" Arcee asked the young mech.
"Still fuzzy, my memories are still recovering." Soundwave replied sitting down on the berth.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to force you to download your memories." Arcee apologized feeling bad for causing her mech pain.
"No it's alright... I've got a lot more then memories clouding my databanks." The violet mech slowly laid down on the berth.
Arcee sighed, laying next to her mech, placing a servo on her mech's bloody chest plate. "Agh... I'll be right back" the femme quickly left the room, to Soundwave's confusion.
The femme returned to the room with the dish of cleaning fluid. "I'm going to finish cleaning you up."
"Ugh, Arcee... just leave it until tomorrow." Soundwave groaned rolling onto his side, so his back faced the femme.
"I'm not recharging next to your bloody crusty mess." Arcee hissed at the stubborn mech.
Soundwave smirked behind his visor. "Sorry, you're right."
Later Optimus woke to a presence lingering over him, rolling over in his berth to see the glowing youngling standing next to him. "Soundwave!" Optimus gasped, sitting up on his berth.
"Sorry sir, I didn't mean to frighten you." Soundwave apologized backing away from the Prime.
"It's quite alright Soundwave, how are you feeling?" Optimus smiled looking at his internal clock, to see it was early Earth hours.
"I'm fine sir, I've got most of my memories back, others I'm still regaining." the violet mech shrugged.
"Glad you've regained most of you memories youngling." Optimus gave a small smile, his gaze wondering, as he wondered if Soundwave had any information to do with the Iacon database.
"I have the database." Soundwave answered what was on the Prime's mind.
"Can you send it to the base computer?" Optimus asked leaving the room with the young mech.
"Already did." Soundwave gestured to the monitors.
"Great, now we can even the odds with the Decepticons." Optimus gave a sigh of relief.
"Megatron is going to force Shockwave to decode the database now, I fear he may figure how to decode it quite quickly." Soundwave voiced his concerns.
"I may be rusty at decoding, but with your help, I know we can get it decoded." Optimus reassured the young mech.
Soundwave thought for a moment. "Do you think somewhere in these relics there's a way for Cybertron to flourish once more?" He looked up at his Uncle.
"Perhaps not within the relics. But I'm certain our planet will live again." Optimus sighed reading over the encrypted database. "While you're recovering, we will hold off on our patrols together. I have to focus on decoding the database, if you want to go on patrol once you're healed, you are free to join the others if you wish. But I am afraid I will have to stay behind."
Soundwave nodded in understanding. He had to admit he was a little disappointed that he couldn't go on patrols with Optimus.
Ratchet walked into the main room, giving Soundwave a smile as he passed him in the hallway. Figuring the young mech was letting the Prime know about his weakened spark. "Is that the Iacon database?" Ratchet gasped looking up at the monitor the Prime was reading.
"Yes, Soundwave had it downloaded in his databanks." Optimus replied, while he began decoding.
"Ow!"
Arcee opened her optics to see her mech attempting to climb over her. "What are you doing?"
"Trying not to wake you..." Soundwave sheepishly replied trying to get himself on the other side of his femme.
"Uhuh... how's that working for you?" Arcee smirked, lightly brushing a digit against her mech's side.
"Not very well!" Soundwave tried to ignore the tickling digit.
Gently grabbing the mechs slender waist, Arcee gently rolled the mech onto his back, laying him next to her on the berth. "Does that help?" Arcee smirked softly, with a playful optic roll.
"When you're not tickling me, yes." Soundwave scoffed to the playful femme.
"Hey, I missed you. You were gone for so long..." Arcee sighed to her beaten mech.
"I'm sorry Arcee... I know I probably hurt you more than I know." The glowing mech apologized to his femme.
"Don't apologize, you couldn't help it, you were just a little sparkling. And we let Shockwave take you." Arcee replied, very upset with herself.
"I don't remember, but I'm sure you didn't just let Shockwave take me. It was probably more complicated then you're making it sound." The violet mech sighed, knowing the femme was incredibly upset.
"They captured Bumblebee, and were going to kill him if we didn't hand you over." Arcee replied knowing her mech was right.
"See, you were just doing the right thing. Bumblebee is safe, and I'm home now." Soundwave rubbed the femme's arm in a comforting manner.
"You're too understanding you know that." Arcee rolled her optics, getting out of the berth.
Soundwave smirked rolling his optics behind his visor. "And you're grumpy."
"Aren't you supposed to be getting a check up from Ratchet?" Arcee raised an optic ridge.
"Uuuh... I don't think so?" Soundwave got out of the berth.
"So you're just going to hide behind your visor the whole time, or am I actually going to see your face?" The femme changed the subject.
Soundwave had forgotten about his visor, he was so used to hiding behind it when he was on the Decepticon warship. Dematerializing his visor, revealing his scarred face plate, and saddened optics.
"Primus, Soundwave!" Arcee gasped seeing her mech's scarred face plate.
"What's the matter?" Soundwave asked confused.
"Your face plate looks as bad as your frame." Arcee showed the violet mech's reflection in the dish of cleaning fluid.
"Oh yeah, Megatron got me when in my quarters doing reports..." The violet mech mentioned with a sigh.
"Does it hurt?" Arcee asked as they walked down the hallway.
"It sure did when it happened, but it's not that bad."
"Primus kid, is there no end to your list of damage?" Ratchet turned to see the violet youngling's scarred face.
"I'm fine, no need to fuss over nothing. I'm just happy to be back here." Soundwave reassured as Bumblebee and Mirage entered the main room aa well.
"How's Soundwave doing Ratchet?" Mirage asked.
"I'm doing better now that I've recovered most of my memories." Soundwave replied to his youngling brother.
"You got your memories back!" Mirage excitedly repeated, doing his best to hold back on hugging his brother.
Soundwave sighed, holding his arms out with a smile.
Mirage didn't hesitate to give his brother a long overdue hug. "I missed you..."
Hiding his pain, Soundwave returned the embrace to his loving little brother. "I'm sorry I put you through that again Mirage."
"Well I don't think Megatron will willingly allow Shockwave to bring either of you back into their ranks." Ratchet scoffed. "Not without a blade through your sparks."
Soundwave and Mirage both knew the medic's grim words were very true. "Soundwave let's go on patrol." Mirage suggested, changing the subject.
Arcee sighed with a laugh. "Mirage, Soundwave needs to recover before he jumps back into action..."
"No Arcee, I'm fine, I can go." Soundwave said, getting a glare from Ratchet.
"Soundwave, Arcee is correct, you're in no condition to be out searching for Decepticons." Ratchet told the young mech.
"I'm fine, if I could do Megatron's bidding while practically offline, I can look for Cons." Soundwave argued, following his brother past the very concentrated Prime.
"Soundwave you're too weak at this time, I highly recommend against this." Ratchet argued right back, giving a side glance to Optimus, hoping the Prime would help him argue with the youngling.
"I'll go with them." Arcee volunteered, following the brothers.
"You're going to really pay for it later, if you don't rest!" Ratchet shook his helm in frustration as the three escaped. "Are you going to back me up on this?" The old medic hissed at the Prime.
"Hmm, sorry?" Optimus barely looked over at the medic.
"Soundwave, is going on patrol with Mirage, and Arcee." Ratchet mentioned in a tone of annoyance.
"I told Soundwave he could, as I can't do patrols during this time." Optimus replied focusing on the monitors.
"Argh..." Ratchet rolled his optics, walking away from the preoccupied Prime.
"Soundwave are you certain you're able to be out here?" Arcee asked approaching her masked mech, standing the a cliff.
"As long as my mind is occupied I won't feel the pain. The Decepticons have unearthed another relic." Soundwave replied, displaying the location on his visor, pushing aside the femme's concern.
"Bridge us." Mirage said to his brother, who with out question created a bridge.
Arcee unwillingly followed the brothers through the created bridge. "We should contact Optimus."
"Optimus and Ratchet should've picked up the signal as well." Mirage rolled his optics at the femme.
"They're directly above us, I can fly up and distract them, while you two grab the relic." Soundwave suggested, before Arcee had the chance to yell at Mirage.
"Sounds like a good idea." Mirage nodded at his brother.
"Now hold on, let's not make any rash decisions, Soundwave you're injured..." Arcee waved her servos at the bothers.
"I'm just a little sore, I'm mostly recovered." Soundwave lied, stepping towards the snowy cliffs edge. "Now I suggest you two start climbing." He said as he stepped off the cliff, transforming.
"Optimus, another Iacon homing beacon has been set off by another relic being unearthed." Ratchet mentioned to the working Prime. "Arcee didn't report in yet either."
"Twins, Jazz..."
"They are with Ironhide on patrol. Soundwave, Arcee, and Mirage are already at the location." Ratchet continued to report to the Prime.
"Fire the ground bridge Ratchet." Optimus Prime said walking towards the bridge.
"I don't get it, all this chipping away with my hammer, just to bring Megtron another hammer?" Breakdown groaned to the medic.
"Whatever just..." Knockout and Breakdown spun around, looking up to see the violet youngling.
"look who's returned, I wouldn't be looking for a welcome back party anytime soon though." Knockout said as Soundwave transformed landing a few feet away.
Soundwave walked towards both Deceptions, who stood defensively.
"He's not a Decepticon anymore, right?" Breakdown leaned over to Knockout.
"By the way Megatron was acting when Soundwave was mentioned, I would say no!" Knockout yelped as he was batted away by a tentacle.
Breakdown went to strike Soundwave, but was blocked. Stumbling backwards as Soundwave engaged him in battle, moving away from the relic they were uncovering.
Arcee and Mirage fired at the Decepticons, quickly charging towards the battle.
"Soundwave brought friends, are they friends or just bots that feel sorry for you!" Knockout scoffed as the shield relic he had activated blocking the bullets.
Breakdown yelped collapsing to the ground in a heap, after being electrocuted by Soundwave's tentacles.
"Optimus the relic is behind Knockout!" Mirage called as the Prime appeared through a bridge next to them.
"Let's see how far we can crank this up!" Knockout scoffed, making the shield spread across the width of the cliff, causing the father and son to get pushed back with the femme.
"Shit, how are we going to deal with doctor doom, now?!" Arcee cursed as the forcefield backed them to the cliff's edge.
Soundwave's tentacles removed the rocks burying the relic, while he was retrieving the relic, he could hear Breakdown getting up behind him.
"Aaaah!" Breakdown charged at the violet young mech.
"How do you Autobots like my new finish protector?" Knockout continued to taunt as he inched the Autobots closer to the edge.
"We need to think of a plan quick, we don fly!" Arcee mentioned as his ped hit the very edge of the cliff.
"Soundwave!" Optimus called out to his apprentice.
Soundwave looked up to see his team in peril. Ripping the massive heavy, hammer, out of the ground with one of his tenacle's. He dodged as Breadown tried to attack him, swinging the hammer around.
"Agh!" Breakdown yelped as he was struck so hard by the hammer, he went flying through the air.
Knockout was about to jeer again at the bots about to step off the cliff, but stopped, seeing a large shadow cast over him. The medic turned just in time to see as Breakdown's large fame struck him down, knocking the shield out of his servo.
"Move forward Autobots!" Optimus Prime ordered once the forcefield had dropped.
Soundwave cycled his vents rapidly as he felt his joints weakening, and the pain of his previous injuries burning.
Knockout quickly scrambled to recollect the shield, but failed as a massive hammer crushed it before his optics. As a bridge opened behind the young hammer weilding mech.
Soundwave collapsed to the grouned as he was shot in the back by the warlord's fusion cannon.
Megatron roared with anger viciously snatching his youngling off the ground.
Soundwave hissed in searing pain, as Megatron's claws pierced his frame.
Megatron ripped the hammer from Soundwave's grasp. Tightening his grip on the youngling, before slamming Soundwave onto the ground.
"Soundwave!" Arcee cried out as her mech was attacked by the warlord.
Megatron easily took the hammer from his fallen son. All three Autobots immediately took aim at Megatron.
"Uh, uh!" Megatron shook his helm no, slinging the hammer over his shoulder, he aimed his canon at the downed violet young mech. "Seems Iacon did not only send weapons. Orion Pax has once again led us towards a victory, not only is this a trinket, but a relic of the Primes." He jeered at his brother as he backed towards the open bridge, with Knockout, and Breakdown.
Soundwave slowly began to push himself off the ground, while Megatron mocked Optimus Prime.
Megatron scowled at his youngling on the ground. "Next time my shot will be more devastating." He scoffed as he dissapeared into the bridge.
As soon as Soundwave wasn't under threat, Mirage opened fire on the two Decepticons. Optimus and Arcee, also fired as they charged forward. But the Cons escaped through the bridge before they could be reached.
"Dammit!" Mirage cursed stopping where the portal dissapeared.
"I'm sorry Optimus..." Soundwave sighed in pain as he got off the ground.
"Do not be upset by this loss youngling." Optimus replied, staring where the bridge used to be.
"What was that hammer?" Mirage asked curiously, as Arcee examined her mech's damage.
"That was the forge of Solus Prime. It was said to forge anything desired, out of raw materials." Optimus replied heplping Arcee with Soundwave.
"Meaning it can make any weapon you desire?" Mirage continued to question, as Arcee called for a bridge.
"Yes, in a sense."
"Then should we not worry about Megatron having the forge?" Arcee scoffed as they entered the base.
"No, we do not need to worry, as the Forge will only respond to a Prime's hand." Optimus explained, guiding Soundwave onto the medical berth.
"I'm fine, please stop." Soundwave shook the Prime's servo off his shoulder.
Optimus gave a small nod, stepping away from the young mech. "I will return to decrypting the database."
"Soundwave you're bleeding..." Arcee hissed at her stubborn mech.
Soundwave ignored Arcee, watching as his mentor walked back over to the monitors. Before walking down the hallway himself, getting away from the caring bots.
"What happened out there?" Ratchet asked.
"Well as you can see, if you cannot already tell, we lost the relic to the Cons." Arcee replied with a sigh.
"Yes, as long as the Decepticons don't benefit from our loss, we should be more focused on our next set of relics, in this race against time." Ratchet sighed.
"Two races..." Arcee muttered knowing her mech's spark was also on a time limit. Cleary Mirage's, and her own spark, were not suffice to strengthen Soundwave's dissipating spark.
"Indeed..." Ratchet glanced down the hallway as Mirage went to follow his brother. "Optimus please, you need to go on patrols with Soundwave." He turned to the working Prime.
Optimus sighed almost annoyed. "Soundwave understands that I must work diligently, to keep us ahead of the Decepticons."
"I know he understands, but I can assist you with the decoding, so you may continue your other duties." Ratchet replied walking over to the massive mech.
"I appreciate the offer old friend, but I think it is best you assist the team's wellbeing, during this rough patch." Optimus politely declined the old medics offer.
"Optimus it is paramount that you're continuing your agenda with your apprentice!" Ratchet expressed in a dire manner.
"Why?" Optimus raised an optic ridge at the dessperate medic.
Ratchet jolted his helm back in shock. "Soundwave didn't tell you this morning?"
"He informed me he had the database, nothing further. What's going on Ratchet?" Optimus turned away from the monitors, to face the medic.
"Soundwave's spark hasn't changed from when we last saw him before his capture." Arcee told the Prime.
"I don't understand, how?" Optimus did not understand why Soundwave's spark was so vulnerable.
"Shockwave's reverting transformations, and constant experimenting with false spark connections, has caused damage to Soundwave's spark this time around. So it has remained in it's vulnerable dependant state." Ratchet walked over to the monitor, to display Soundwave's vitals.
"That pulse isn't very lively." Arcee pointed out the sparkbeat on the display.
"It's grown faint since his return, especially after coming back from the recent mission." The medic sadly sighed.
"How was Soundwave able to sustain a healthy spark during his time with the Decepticons?" The Prime questioned, noting the weakening sparkbeat.
"Megatron was able to begin a spark bond, but it was not very strong either, because Soundwave denied his spark bond, or because of the Dark energon clouding Megatron's spark." Ratchet explained his theory to the Prime.
"I thought you said..."
"That bonds could never be broken? They can't, that's why I mentioned the dark energon in Megatron's spark breaking the bond." The ancient medic interrupted the Prime.
"Then why are our bonds not effective?" Arcee questioned.
"Like I explained before Soundwave was taken, his reverting into a sparkling reverted his spark. At that time his creators were offline, that's why I encouraged Optimus to create a bond with him." Ratchet rolled his optics, tired of explaining the science behind Shockwave's madness. "Shockwave returned Soundwave to his youngling state, but kept his sparkling spark as he had a false bond with him."
"Sorry to ask, Primus I'm just curious to what's happening." Arcee groaned storming off to her quarters.
Optimus asked no further questions, making his way down the hallway in search of the violet youngling. "Soundwave?"
"He's not in here." Arcee replied to the Prime standing in the doorway.
Optimus nodded taking a step back from the room.
"Optimus wait." Arcee replied grabbing a few vials from the rack on the desk. "It showed irritation building up on his vitals. Figured you could remind him to take these." The femme handed the Prime the vials.
"Of course." Optimus nodded, putting the vials in his storage compartment.
"Primus, what are you doing Wave?" Mirage groaned from a stack of energon cubes.
"Counting our limited supply of energon." Soundwave replied moving his brother off the small stack.
"Ugh, don't get your energon all over me. You know you're still bleeding right?" Mirage scoffed wriggling out his brother's grip.
"Noted... But I'm more concerned about our energon supply." Soundwave rolled his optics behind his visor.
"We've been struggling to find energon, without spilling our own energon." Mirage sighed leaning against the wall.
"We only have enough for a week. That's not good." Soundwave shook his helm.
"Soundwave."
"We need to get more, we've got too many bots on our team, to survive with this supply." The violet mech sighed, not even noticing the Prime behind him calling his name.
"Soundwave..." Optimus called again, smiling at Mirage, who smiled back.
"Come'on let's go scout for some... oof!" Soundwave turned walking right into the Prime. "Optimus?!"
"You're right Soundwave, we need to find more energon. Would you care to join me on an energon scouting mission?" Optimus smiled at the youngling.
"Uh... yes sir, I would be happy to join you." Soundwave nodded looking over his shoulder at Mirage.
"It's fine, we can go another time. I'll probably drag Arcee out on a patrol." Mirage said leaving the storage room.
Soundwave followed Optimus out, he was confused when the Prime didn't go for the base entrance. "Aren't we going scouting?"
"Yes we are." Optimus replied punching coordinates into the bridge.
"I could've made a bridge for us." Soundwave said, watching the bridge portal appear.
"Optimus, Soundwave's losing energon, and is still on the mend from Megatron's initial attack. I know he's going to argue against us both, just please watch them." Ratchet mentioned to his leader.
"I will do my best Ratchet. Come along youngling." Optimus exhaled, guiding the violet mech through.
Soundwave followed the Prime into a familiar valley. "This is the sight of the proposal." He thought aloud, noting the humungous rock titan corpses, that had been disintegrating back into the Earth.
"Yes, and if you remember it, I'm sure you have many questions." Optimus said, leading the youngling through the valley. "But we also picked up on an energon spike nearby." The Prime mentioned before the youngling questioned the fact they were desperately searching for energon.
Soundwave remained silent as they walked past the corpses. Switching on his scanners, locating the energon signal.
One of the corpses shifted, making a loud rumbling crack, as the rocks collapsed inside of the corpse.
Soundwave jumped into action the moment he heard the corpse shift, practically leaping into Optimus.
Optimus watched as a flash of cyan blue glowed on Soundwave's frame for a moment, as the youngling projected a bubble like shield around them.
The Prime sighed as only a cloud of dust, and pebbles bounced off the shield. "It's alright Soundwave. They're not going to get up, they are simply returning back to the Earth."
Soundwave blinked behind his visor, noting the Prime was correct, they were not going to be attacked by Unicrons manifestations. Dropping the shield, Soundwave fell to a knee, as it took a lot for him to create such a shield, while he was recovering from his injuries.
"Youngling, are going to be okay?" Optimus asked offering a servo to help the violet young mech stand.
"Yes, sorry sir..." Soundwave apologized, pushing himself off the ground without help from the Prime.
"Why so frightened Soundwave?" The Prime queried as the continued through the valley.
Soundwave didn't want to admit he was afraid to lose Optimus, the memories of the titan were terrifying when it almost killed the Prime, and Mirage.
Lazerbeak sent a calming vibration through Soundwave's chest, to sooth the wary spark.
"Soundwave?"
"I'm just on high alert I suppose... Our encounter here wasn't very pleasant." Soundwave sighed allowing his drone to calm him.
"It was not, but it's alright now. Are you tracking the energon?" Optimus changed the subject, noticing the youngling's visor was lit up with a map of the terrian.
"Yes, we are heading in the right direction." Soundwave replied, happily going along with changing the subject. He released Lazerbeak, to get a birds eye view of the valley.
The master and apprentice walked silently as they came to the canyon, where the Autobots battled previous to Megatron's arrival.
"Soundwave, why didn't you tell me your spark was weakening due to not having a spark bond..."
Before the violet mech could respond, his spark fluttered, shutting down. Soundwave completely collapsed, unconscious.
"Soundwave!" Optimus was quick to kneel down to try and awaken the unconcious youngling.
"Optimus, what's going on, we lost Soundwave's signature?" Ratchet's voice came over the comlink.
"Soundwave has collapsed, I am not getting any responses from him." Optimus replied trying to wake Soundwave.
"Alright I'm locking onto your coordinates..."
Lazerbeak twittered in a panick, he dove at the Prime causing, Optimus back away from the unconcious youngling.
"Lazerbeak, it's okay, I'm trying to help." Optimus tried to calm the frantic drone.
Lazerbeak did not care for the Prime's words, attaching himself back to his master. Reactivating Soundwave completely.
Soundwave sat up dizzily, in a daze, as his vision slowly faded from black.
"Soundwave?!" Optimus called, giving Soundwave a gentle shake.
"Soundwave's signature is back, but weaker than before. What's your status?" Ratchet called over the com.
"Soundwave's back online, but needs a moment to gather his senses." Optimus replied helping the violet mech stand.
"I'm fine..." Soundwave pulled away from Optimus. "Let's continue." Ignoring his pain, the violet mech continued forward.
"We should get you back to base." Optimus suggested to the stubborn young mech.
"No, we need the energon, it's not too far anyway." Soundwave continued to lead the Prime.
"We're continuing the mission, Ratchet you make the call if you think Soundwave needs to return." Optimus ended the call with base.
Another few moments of silence went by, as they came to a small energon deposit.
"Soundwave, why didn't you tell me?" Optimus said as they examined the energon.
Soundwave knew exactly what the Prime was prying at. "It didn't seem like the right time..."
Optimus was confused. "What do you mean youngling?"
"You were focused on decrypting the Iacon database, I didn't want to divert your attention from that." Soundwave replied with a shrug.
"You're more important then decrypting a database." Optimus shook his helm.
Soundwave found that hard to believe. Clearing the irritation out of his throat, the young mech replied to his mentor. "I would like to help you with the decryptions, I know how to do most of it."
"I would be happy to have your assistance." Optimus went along with changing the subject. "But you should've told me about your spark."
Soundwave groaned, he should've known the Prime wouldn't let the subject go so easily. "I guess I don't fully understand it myself. I don't want to be dependent on anyone."
"Soundwave it's not a matter of being a dependent, I know you're very capable of looking after yourself. You just need a spark bond to stabilize your recovery." Optimus told the frustrated youngling.
"Besides a few scratches, and dents, I am fully recovered." Soundwave scoffed trying hold back a cough, as he opened a bridge back to base.
The Prime cocked an optic ridge at the sore, still bleeding mech, he knew the youngling hid pain well. "Not until your spark is stable." Optimus pointed out following the young mech to the ground bridge.
"Yes sir..." The violet mech sighed defeatedly, as they entered the base.
"What happened out there?" Ratchet gasped quickly scanning the fussy youngling.
"Ratchet I'm fine." Soundwave grumbled pushing past the concerned medic. "I passed out, so what."
"I'm glad you're fine now, but I need to know what caused your sudden deactivation." Ratchet looked over at the Prime.
"A few moments after Soundwave released Lazerbeak, he deactivated. Other than that, we did nothing strenuous." Optimus explained to his medic.
"Hmm... Soundwave can you release Lazerbeak for a moment." Ratchet asked, grabbing a data pad.
Soundwave commanded Lazerbeak to eject, but the drone was reluctant to do so. "Lazerbeak?" Soundwave glared down at his torso.
"What's the matter?" Optimus asked with concern.
"Lazerbeak Come'on, just quickly." The violet mech groaned in annoyance.
Lazerbeak unwillingly ejected from his master's torso, Soundwave handed him to the medic, who placed him on the medical berth.
Soundwave raised an optic ridge at the medic. "Okay, what are we waiting for?"
"I'm just monitoring your sparkbeat." Ratchet replied watching the data pad in his servo.
"Can I go meet up with Arcee while you do it?" Soundwave asked moving towards the exit.
"Not yet, just wait a moment." Ratchet shook his helm no.
"Okay... can I help Optimus while I wait?" Soundwave gestured to the Prime working on the monitors.
"I just need you to sit, and stay, for a few minutes!" Ratchet hissed sitting the bored young mech on the medical berth. "I need you inactive so I get a proper steady rhythm."
"Fine..." Soundwave grumbled, petting the drone next to him on the berth.
[Primus kid, you're more impatient than the twins and Ironhide combined...] Ratchet mentally groaned as he rolled his optics, putting Soundwave's vitals on the medical monitor.
"I am not impatient, just bored..." Soundwave scoffed unknowingly hearing the medic's thoughts.
"What, you heard that?!" Ratchet gasped surprised the youngling heard his thoughts.
"Uh, yeah. You don't mumble very quietly..." Soundwave casually shrugged, as his sparkbeat began to weaken drastically.
"Soundwave I didn't say that..." Ratchet said as the monitor alerted to Soundwave's dimming spark.
Lazerbeak jumped into action, reconnecting to Soundwave's torso. Rejuvenating his masters sparkbeat.
"Interesting..." Ratchet thought aloud as he watched Soundwave's sparkbeat rhythm.
"What?" Soundwave exhaled heavily as his spark continued to steadily beat with a slowly weakening rhythm.
"Seems Lazerbeak is slowing the process of your spark from going out." Ratchet replied to the young mech. "My advice to you is limit your use of Lazerbeak, until you have a fused bond."
Soundwave furrowed his optic ridges behind his visor. "I can't do that to Lazerbeak."
"I don't understand what you're getting at youngling?" Ratchet quirked an optic ridge at Soundwave.
"I can't keep Lazerbeak cooped up until I get my spark under control, that'd be cruel." Soundwave explained to the confused medic.
"Soundwave don't be ridiculous, Lazerbeak is just a surveillance drone..."
"Ratchet!" Optimus growled at the medic, he knew Lazerbeak was much more than just a drone to Soundwave.
"He's not just a surveillance drone!" Soundwave hissed angrily at the red and white mech.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Arcee walked into the base, surprised at her mech's outburst.
"Ratchet..." Optimus glared at the medic.
"I'm sorry youngling, I didn't mean to insult your... friend..." Ratchet apologized to the upset young mech. "Just limit your use of him, for your own safety."
Soundwave walked away in silence, disappearing down the hallway.
"What going on?" Arcee repeated her earlier question.
"Lazerbeak is slowing down the process of Soundwave's spark deactivating, so I advised him to not release Lazerbeak." Ratchet replied to the femme's question.
"Okay, and?" Arcee gestured for the medic to tell her the rest of the story.
"Soundwave voiced his concerns that it would be cruel for him to do that to Lazerbeak. Therefore he'd rather endanger his own life, instead of making his pet a little uncomfortable for the time being." Ratchet scoffed, rolling his optics at how ridiculous the subject was.
"Well when you explain it like that, no wonder Soundwave snapped at you!" Arcee growled at Ratchet.
While the femme and medic argued Optimus left his work, to go after his apprentice. "Soundwave, I understand Lazerbeak needs his time to be free. But I believe Lazerbeak is willing enough to sacrifice a little discomfort, to keep you online."
Soundwave barely looked over his shoulder as his mentor approached him.
"Would you like to assist me with the database?" The Prime asked guiding the young mech back towards the lift.
"What about the energon we found?" Soundwave asked, seeing the twins and Mirage returning from patrol, as he was turned around.
"We will send twins to mine it." Optimus said as they rode the lift down.
"Can we go on patrol instead?" Soundwave asked, smiling hopefully behind his visor.
"Sure youngling." Optimus sighed. [I've got to get that database decoded sooner rather then later...] he thought to himself as they walked down the hallway.
"Or you can stay and decode... and I'll go on patrol by myself." Soundwave suggested, knowing the Prime was desperate to finish decrypting the Iacon database.
Optimus sighed in frustration. "I'll go with you another time." The Prime was upset with himself for not having time to spend with his apprentice. [I will make time for you youngling, I promise...]
"It's alright, Optimus. I understand the importance of your work, I know you'll make time when you can. Don't force yourself to hang out with me." Soundwave chuckled through a cough, trying to reassure his mentor.
Optimus gave a confused look, wondering how Soundwave heard his thoughts. "I don't feel pressured to connect with you youngling. I just want to make sure you're well. I don't want you to constantly be on the on the verge of death."
"Optimus, we're all on the verge of death, we're in a war. Let's just continue on the way we were, before you found out my spark was weakening." Soundwave stopped the Prime in the hallway. "That's why I didn't tell you what was going on with my spark. I didn't want the panicked forcefulness of trying to create a bond."
"Hmm... you're right. I suppose I have been overwhelmed with the race to gain Iacon relics, and receiving the news about your condition, I haven't been thinking properly." Optimus smiled proudly at the young mech's wisdom. If Soundwave was anything like his little brother, a spark bond would have to be willingly excepted by the young mech. It was not something to be forced upon, and fused quickly.
"I understand your stress, but if you'd like some of those pressures taken off of you, I would be happy to assist?" Soundwave offered to his mentor.
[It's wonderful Soundwave is getting more comfortable, and confident in his leadership role.] Optimus thought to himself as his smile grew. "I will focus on the database, and continue to go on patrols with you."
"Confidence is something that I have struggled to project, in a positive way I mean." The violet mech looked away, seeing the twins annoying Ratchet. "But yes I can handle that plan, and if you'd like, we can switch every now and again. Where you take a break, and I can decode the database."
"... It's a deal." Optimus nodded as they entered the main room. He was a little put off by the fact it seemed like Soundwave could hear his thoughts.
"Hey Waverz, Prime, we found a mine with Mirage. Jazz, Bee, and Ironhide are there preparing to mine it." Sideswipe reported to the apprentice and mentor.
"Found or infiltrated?" Soundwave raised an optic ridge behind his visor. Turning his helm to the little red assassin.
"Found, and infiltrated." Mirage sheepishly replied.
"Of course." Soundwave snorted with a laugh.
"Mirage, we agreed to not hit Decepticon mining operations. We want to gain energon, not spill it." Optimus scolded his youngling son.
"The only energon that was spilt was the Decepticons. It was a small operation, not significant enough to alarm the warship, but enough energon to sustain us for a few more weeks or so." Mirage shrugged at his irritated father.
Optimus shook his helm, returning to the monitor he was working on.
"Mirage I'm going on patrol, want to join?" Soundwave asked, walking to the base exit. "You just got back I know..."
"Nah, I'm always up for a patrol, an escape." Mirage scoffed, following his brother out of the base.
"That kid is going to hurt so badly, he hasn't stopped since he arrived here." Ratchet shook his helm knowing Soundwave's pain was going to catch up with him.
"Any progress with Soundwave?" Arcee asked the Prime.
"I do not think I have made much progress. But I will over time, his spark is fussy like Mirage's." Optimus replied to the femme.
"So how goes the smothering?" Mirage sarcastically asked the reaper flying above him.
Soundwave mentally rolled his optics, with a groan. "Overwhelmingly annoying. Both Optimus, and Arcee are too forceful on creating a spark bond with me."
"They just care about you. But I understand your frustration." Mirage replied as they drove through the night.
"I know they care but..." Soundwave's sentence was interrupted by a ping he received, picking up a life signature not far from their location. "I've picked up on an unknown signature, just to the west, not far from us."
"Let's check it out." Mirage responded, driving in the direction Soundwave had mentioned.
Soundwave accelerated passing his brother, leaving Mirage further behind, as he closed in on the life signature. Releasing Lazerbeak to scout out ahead, Soundwave got a visual of a crashed Cybertronian spacecraft.
A large mech that crawled out of it, and gave a friendly wave at Lazerbeak.
"Ow!" Arriving at the crash site location Soundwave hissed as he transformed, landing at the crashed ship. Lazerbeak reconnected with his master, as the large navy blue, and gold mech approached him. "Soundwave, it has been too long."
"Dreadwing?" Soundwave gasped, as the Decepticon Seeker Captain greeted him.
"Yes, I have missed much it seems. Has Lord Megatron lifted your vow of silence?" Dreadwing casually conversed, unaware he was communicating with an Autobot commander.
Soundwave's sensitive audio receptors could hear Mirage's engines fast approaching. (Cut your engines, it's a Decepticon. He doesn't know I'm an Autobot. Perhaps I can gain some information from him, before he clues in.)
Mirage read the text he received from his brother. Doing as he was told, Mirage transformed not too far from the crash sight. Activating his cloaking he hid by a nearby gas station, observing his brother communicating with the Decepticon.
"The war on this planet must be treacherous, you look like you've been through the pits." Dreadwing commented on the youngling's beaten frame.
Soundwave looked over his own frame, noticing his Decepticon shields were still present on his arms. Understandably part of the reason Dreadwing was convinced he was a Decepticon. "What brings you to this planet?"
"I have come to serve Lord Megatron. But also to receive confirmation of my twin's demise." Dreadwing replied to the young mech's question.
(Skyquake?) Soundwave questioned Mirage.
(During your time with the Cons, Starscream tried raise his own army, and failed miserably. Skyquake denied to be under Starscream's command, Optimus and I picked up on the life signature, after Agent Fowler picked up on it first. Skyquake aggressed on Fowler, so we had to take him down. I deactivated him.) Mirage responded to Soundwave's confusion.
"He met an untimely demise, but not under the watch of..." Soundwave replied pausing momentarily as he brought himself to say his father's title. "Lord Megatron..."
"Soundwave, tell me who is responsible for the extinguishing my twin's spark!?" Dreadwing demanded from the youngling.
"Starscream, for awakening him from stasis, only to be taken down by the Autobots." Soundwave replied, purposefully not mentioning a specific Autobot, who was his brother.
"Then every Autobot, upon this planet shall pay." Dreadwing threatened.
Soundwave looked over in the direction of the gas station, seeing the sheen from his brother's cloaking. "Indeed..."
"You must relay my arrival to the warship. I do not wish to keep our Master waiting." Dreadwing expressed to the masked mech. [Although, I'm sure you've already alerted them, the moment I arrived. You faceless, mutant...]
Soundwave ignored the hurtful comment, before he could reply the sound of a jet engine diverted his attention. Enhancing his sight, he made note that it was of human origin, Agent Fowler.
"Prime!"
Optimus sighed pushing the database to the far side of the screen, to enhance Agent Fowler's call. "Yes Agent Fowler?"
"I found your missing link, welcoming a new Decepticon to Earth!" Agent Fowler replied displaying the visual he had of Dreadwing and Soundwave.
"Who the hell is that, it looks like Skyquake?" The twins thought aloud as they keened in on the display.
"But Mirage took him down already, didn't he?" Jazz mentioned.
"Well whoever he is, they can't be here, they're going to end up on the 7 o'clock news! They're too close to a local town." Agent Fowler hissed at the Autobots.
"More importantly, what is Soundwave doing standing around with him?" Ironhide scoffed suspiciously.
"What are you talking about lug nut? Faceless has been on their side for months now." The human scoffed confused.
"Agent Fowler, we were able to restore Soundwave to his Autobot state. We haven't had the time to restore his Autobot insignia's due to how short his time with us has been. Dreadwing may not suspect Soundwave is one of us." Optimus Prime explained to the human.
"Where's Mirage?" Arcee thought aloud, noticing the youngling was not in sight.
"Once again Prime you're doing a poor job of keeping me in the loop!" Agent Fowler scolded Optimus, as his aircraft was scanned. "Dammit, not again!" Fowler's communication cut off.
[Hmm that will do nicely.] Dreadwing thought, scanning the aircraft. "Soundwave where are we, who is that..." Dreadwing did not finish his sentence as Mirage's cloak caught his optic. "An Autobot!" he immediately fired his blaster canon at the cloaked youngling.
Optimus led the team through the bridge, relieved to see Agent Fowler still airborne, as Dreadwing fired at Mirage.
Mirage leapt out of the way of the shots, causing them to strike the gas pumps instead, sending the station into explosive flames.
"Mirage!" Soundwave cried out as the gas station exploded.
"By the Allspark Soundwave, who's side are you on?!" Dreadwing hissed at the violet youngling, while he took aim at the hovering human jet.
"The Autobots!" Soundwave quickly wrestled with the mech, to get the blasters sights off of Agent Fowler.
"Argh, I always knew you were too much of a coward to ever be a Decepticon!" Dreadwing growled punching Soundwave away from him. "I told Shockwave I was wasting my time, many cycles ago... next time he should heed my advice, and exterminate the weak like Megatron ordered!" He fired his canon at Soundwave, as the young mech stumbled back.
Mirage rolled out of the fire, firing his weapons at the Decepticon. As Optimus and the rest of the team did the same.
Dreadwing growled in frustration, getting over run with Autobots, he transformed escaping the Autobot team.
"Soundwave, Mirage, are you alright?" Arcee asked running over to the brothers.
"A little toasty, but fine." Mirage jokingly replied, as he examined his singed frame.
"Soundwave?" Optimus turned to his apprentice.
Soundwave shook off his pain, nodding in reply that he was fine.
"Alright bots, get out of here, before the news teams arrive!" Agent Fowler shouted over the loud speaker projecting from his jet.
"Primus, is there a time when you two don't come back from a major explosion?" Ratchet scoffed at Mirage.
"Plenty of times, you just choose to remember our worst injuries with flames." Mirage retorted to the cranky old medic.
"Who was that dude?" Jazz asked as he followed the team in.
"That was Dreadwing..." Soundwave removed his visor with a hint of anger in his tone.
"Dreadwing?" Ratchet repeated, looking to Optimus.
"I only know of Dreadwing, as he was a captain of a seeker armada n Cybertron. Like his twin, fiercely loyal to Megatron. I do not doubt that he has come to Earth to pay his loyalty forward, serving under Megatron once more." Optimus mentioned what he knew of this new Decepticon.
"But you know him more personally?" Arcee said turning to her quiet mech.
"I try to forget it. Dreadwing was an assistant in Shockwave's training program." Soundwave sadly replied to his femme.
"Really, how come I don't remember him?" Mirage raised an optic ridge at his brother.
"Because you weren't a flier, you didn't formally meet him." Soundwave answered his brother's confusion. "Dreadwing was assigned as the arial combat trainer."
"Really I figured Starscream would've..."
"Starscream played too big of a role in the war to train younglings. Also he was so arrogant, Shockwave couldn't stand him long enough to keep him permanently in play with his program." Soundwave scoffed rolling his optics.
"Alright Prime, you want to give me the details on what's going on?!" Agent Fowler shouted as he entered through the human lift.
"I apologize Agent Fowler, I should've been the one to inform you about my return..." Soundwave began to apologize to the angry human, unknown that his translator module wasn't working.
Agent Fowler raised his eyebrows in confusion, as all he heard from the young mech was an alien language, he assumed was Cybertronian. "Alright I didn't understand a word you said, I don't speak your alien language, sorry." Agent Fowler was even more surprised to see the youngling had a face.
Soundwave looked around the room confused. "Is my voice getting worse?"
"Soundwave, you're speaking Cybertronian, you don't have your translator module activated." Arcee whispered to her mech.
"Oh, I guess I haven't used it since being on the Nemesis." Soundwave shrugged switching on his translator, changing his speech to human english. "I apologize for not informing you of my return, Agent. It was my responsibility to inform you, not Optimus."
"I accept your apology, but Prime you need to take some responsibility, I need updated information." Agent Fowler shook his head.
"Sir, with all due respect, as second in command I share similar responsibilities as Optimus Prime. He has been preoccupied, as I am sure you have been informed about the relics hidden on this planet." Soundwave continued to defend his mentor.
"Yes I know about the Decepticons hunt for relics, but last I've heard about that was the cons have your list of relics and you guys don't." Agent Fowler sighed to the violet youngling.
"Soundwave's arrival has gifted us with the Iacon database, we have now began a race against time. I have been decoding the database so we can retrieve the relics before Megatron." Optimus explained to the Agent.
"Good, keep me up to date though. I need to know what's going on, so I can have a clear explanation for the big wigs breathing down my neck." Fowler sighed in frustration.
"Optimus Prime, sir, if you accept. I can send regular reports to Agent Fowler with ease, so you can focus on your decrypting." Soundwave suggested to his mentor.
"Agent Fowler, Soundwave is incredibly accurate with giving detailed reports. And will keep you up to date with all our happenings, on the regular." Optimus agreed with the young mech's offer.
"Fine, Soundwave, I look forward to seeing your reports." Agent Fowler sighed, calling the violet mech by his name for the first time.
Soundwave nodded, happy to finally hear his name come from the human, instead of an insult.
"Alright before I leave, what about this new Decepticon?"
"With Starscream out of the picture, Dreadwing will be the prime candidate for Megatron's seeker commander position." Soundwave replied to the human's question.
"Alright, I will look forward to those reports." Fowler sighed leaving the base.
"Wave, do you wanna continue our patrol?" Mirage asked his big brother.
"Yeah, let's go. Maybe we can find an unoccupied energon mine." Soundwave agreed to continue their patrol, wincing in pain as he followed his brother through a bridge.
Optimus sighed, letting the brothers go back out into the night. "I'm going to return to my work. Arcee do you want to monitor Soundwave and Mirage's activity?"
"Yeah I can do that while I help these two process energon." Arcee gestured to the twins.
Soundwave sighed as him and his brother could not find a trace of energon. Decreasing his altitude, Soundwave transformed landing in the forest below, next to his brother. "Fuuuuck... Lazerbeak scan the area." He released his beloved drone into the forest, trying to ignore the pain coursing through his frame.
"Come'on there's got to be energon somewhere. This planet is supposedly rich with it." Mirage groaned, trudging through the forest with his brother.
"Chill little red, you got to remember the cons were here before us. They've found all the easily found energon mines." Soundwave told his frustrated youngling brother.
"Yeah, and we're a bunch of scavengers scrounging around for the scraps they left." Mirage groaned grumpily, climbing over a log.
"Maybe it seems that way, but the Decepticons haven't found all the good energon deposits." Soundwave tried to reassure Mirage.
"The only good mine we found, that wasn't occupied, was the one you found Steve in." Mirage scoffed as a leaf fell on Soundwave's helm.
"Yes, but like I said before the..." Soundwave sighed taking the fallen leaf off his helm.
[The Cons got here before us. Blah, blah, blah...] Mirage mentally groaned, rolling his optics as his brother spoke.
"Don't be such a brat." Soundwave snorted shaking his helm at his sarcastic little brother.
"What are you talking about, I didn't say anything?" Mirage oddly glared up at his brother.
Soundwave tilted his helm in confusion. "You were just mocking me, for saying the Cons got to the good mines first."
"I didn't say that aloud, you crazy mind reader." Mirage teased his confused brother.
Soundwave wondered if his brother's teasing words were actually true. Almost everyone he spoke to today, had told him they didn't say anything aloud.
Walking through the dark calming forest Soundwave listened for his drone, hearing Lazerbeak's high frequency tweeting carrying on ahead of them.
"Hey boys check in, what's your status?" Arcee's voice came over the brothers comlink.
"We're having no luck out here. We're returning to base." Soundwave replied, opening a ground bridge.
"Well that was utterly useless..." Mirage yawned going through the open bridge.
"Lazerbeak back to base, come'on." Soundwave called for his surveillance drone.
Lazerbeak twittered happily, flying through the bridge, with Soundwave following behind him.
Optimus ducked as the drone flew over him, up into the rafters where the drone perched itself.
"Hey Bee, wanna quickly shoot some targets, before Arcee screams at us to recharge?" Mirage asked the yellow scout sitting on the couch.
"Yeah!" Bumblebee excitedly followed Mirage into the training room.
"I don't yell, I tell you to get to bed." Arcee scoffed.
Soundwave walked to the middle of the room, smirking at his femme. His frame still intensely aching in pain.
[I hope Soundwave's spark is doing alright...]
[Primus I need to move the energon processor out of the med bay...]
[Ratchet's grumpy, Ironhide is grumpy, Sunstreaker is an ass. Primus I hate energon processing...]
[These twins are probably getting tired of me being a tyrant, making them mine all the time.]
[The younglings need to recharge...]
[How's this planet have such cool vehicles.]
Soundwave tightly screwed his optics shut, grabbing his helm, trying to muffle everyone's thoughts from projecting into his processor.
Arcee cocked an optic ridge, wondering why her mech was holding his helm. [What's going on with Soundwave?]
Soundwave lifted his helm seeing the femme approaching him.
"Hey what's wrong?" Arcee asked.
Soundwave shook his helm no, leaving the room in a hurry.
Optimus looked over his shoulder, seeing the young mech rushing out of the room.
"What's going on with him?" Arcee asked as her leader walked over to her.
"I may have a theory, let me speak with him." Optimus replied walking to the base lift.
"Primus, why am I hearing everyone's fucking thoughts?!" Soundwave hissed, flying away from the base.