"Makeshift, I believe, is Shockwave's new project." Soundwave said, he didn't get the chance to go through his findings quite yet, but from what he saw, he was guessing his nemesis's fate.
"What, is he going to complete his training?" Mirage nervously joked in response to his brother's reply.
"No, the lab I found, his frame was scattered around, picked apart, the only thing taken was his spark chamber, and processor." Soundwave shivered at his explanation of what he found.
"And most likely his ability to shape shift." Mirage added.
"Shockwave would merely use the ability to easily create a permanent abomination." The violet mech thought aloud, as they approached the worried looking group of bots.
"Soundwave, Mirage!" Arcee joyfully greeted the brothers.
"Arcee, how's everything going here?" Soundwave greeted his relieved sparkmate.
"Fine, everything's fine." Arcee blew off her mech's question. "What happened to you two?" She asked looking over the brothers charred and singed armour.
"We found Shockwave, unfortunately he escaped our clutches. Shockwave's also cloning Insecticons to be his foot soldiers." Soundwave replied.
Arcee furrowed her optic ridges at the mention of Insecticons. "Hey, where are you going?" The femme questioned, seeing her mech walking away.
"I'm going to go visit Starscream." Soundwave replied, before transforming.
"I thought he already read that coward's mind?" Ironhide questioned.
"Soundwave must've downloaded information when we infiltrated the laboratories, he might be looking for more answers." Mirage suggested, with a shrug.
"Have you returned to convince me to join your side?" Starscream's voice dripped with sarcasm.
"No, I have come seeking more answers from you." Soundwave replied to the miserable seeker.
"I'm flattered, really, Megatron would have never questioned me for valuable information like this. Let alone think I have valuable information." Starscream mentioned the subject of his ego, which Soundwave did not care for at this moment in time.
Soundwave exhaled irritated. "I just need to understand why Shockwave, destroyed Makeshift, and what he's planning on doing with his unfortunate spark, and processor?"
[Primus, he's really trying it...] Starscream cringed at the thought of Makeshift's disassembled corpse.
"Starscream?" The violet mech cocked his helm curiously.
"Does it look like I know all of Shockwave's crazy science projects?" The silver and grey mech scoffed folding his arms.
"No I want to know about this specific one." Soundwave displayed Cybertronian script on his visor, that read PROJECT D-34-X.
"Hmm..." Starscream read the project displayed on the young mech's visor. "Shouldn't you be the one to answer this, hmm?"
Soundwave turned the display off, turning away from the cocky mech. D-34 The designated title for that file, was Soundwave's original name from when he was sparked, and renamed D-34 in Shockwave's super soldier project.
"Why do you even care what Shockwave's doing with Makeshift's remains, I thought he was your arch rival?" Starscream retorted to the silent young mech.
"He was... upset... with my ability to surpass his progress in the training program. He was never my enemy, Makeshift was just a misunderstood soldier, that let his anger, and jealousy, reflect who he was." Soundwave replied before leaving to exit the enforcement station brig.
"Stop preaching your positivity." Starscream hissed, halting Soundwave in his tracks. The seeker smirked when the young mech returned to his cell. "Trying to find the light in everyone, is exhausting, there are some fuelled by so much rage, and vengeance, they aren't capable of change. So, dear Soundwave, trying to naively make excuses for those who truly are evil, is meaningless, they're terrible, and always will be evil."
"Are you one of them?" Soundwave questioned emotionlessly.
"What?" Starscream blinked confused by the young mech's reply.
"You said there are some, that aren't capable of change, that they will always be evil." Soundwave stepped closer to the cell. "So tell me, are you one of them?"
Starscream sheepishly chuckled, realizing he dug himself into a deep hole. "Well, no..." he fidgeted his claws uncomfortably, watching as the cobalt blue femme who entered, halt behind the violet mech. "I was just simply suggesting, that you have the point of view of a Prime, and that you should either keep it silent, being the simple cog you claim you are, or rightfully claim your leadership..." the seeker attempted to backpedal unsuccessfully.
Soundwave rolled his optics behind his visor, pivoting himself around, stepping into his sparkmate. "Arcee!"
"Are you done with questioning?" Arcee asked her surprised mech.
"No, but until I have Shockwave in one of these cells, I am done for now." Soundwave sighed, following his sparkmate out of the enforcement station.
"You'll get him soon enough, Soundwave." Arcee tried to reassure her mech.
"I had him, he was within my grasp, and he escaped." Soundwave shook his helm, disappointed in himself for allowing Shockwave to escape. "He's wounded, and weak, but we can't trace his signal."
"Wouldn't Shockwave leave a trail of energon?" Arcee questioned.
"Yes, but he bridged out. We can't detect someone who is bleeding energon, pick up the trail and follow it to wherever." The violet mech explained, entering their home.
The femme cocked her helm curiously. "I thought that's exactly how you track down your enemies?"
"Well in a sense, yes, but I mean we can't pick up like a scent, and follow it to the trail." Soundwave explained, as Bumblebee came up to greet them.
"Well can't Lazerbeak do that?" Arcee thought aloud.
"No, that would be a job for another minicon perhaps, but not Lazerbeak." The violet mech shook his helm no.
"Hi Wave, I left you and Cee some energon on the table. Mirage and I already had some." Bumblebee cheerfully greeted the couple.
"Thank you Bumblebee, do you know if Mirage visited Ratchet?" Arcee asked with a smile.
"Reluctantly, but yes he did." The yellow scout replied, following Arcee to the scullery.
"Good, Soundwave you should call Ratchet, get him to check you over on his way home?" The femme suggested, handing energon to her mech.
"I'm fine Arcee, what's been damaged, has already been repaired, I'm not going to waste Ratchet's time." Soundwave sighed waving off his sparkmate's suggestion.
"Alright, I was just making sure, you two were in an explosion involving Shockwave's laboratory, just wanted to make sure you weren't poisoned or infected by something." Arcee shrugged sitting on the couch.
"Poisoned, and infected, are practically the same thing, Cee." Mirage scoffed, jumping over the femme on the couch.
"Invisible, or cloaked?" Arcee retorted back at the youngling.
"Uh, what?" Mirage cocked his helm curiously.
"Exactly, go annoy someone else." The femme shoed the red youngling away.
Mirage rolled his optics at the femme, turning his attention to his older brother. "So when are we leaving to hunt again?" The youngling asked almost timidly, he did not want to know the answer to his question, but asked anyway to hide his angst about going after the scientist.
"I don't know, we're going to have to organize a team to help us search, the planet is too vast for just the two of us to search." Soundwave exhaled deeply, putting his energon down.
"But we've got the best tracking systems, and everyone else is busy rebuilding our planet." Mirage mentioned.
"We may have more advanced searching systems, but they're not enough, we need the help. We'll just have to prioritize searching, over reconstruction, for the time being." The violet mech replied to his younger brother.
"What about returning citizens?" The yellow youngling questioned.
Soundwave released Lazerbeak to allow his drone some freedom. "I haven't exactly gotten that space bridge running yet, so we won't be getting a surplus of returning citizens, anytime soon. Shockwave is a danger to society, the quicker we find him, the safer returning citizens will be." The young mech watched his drone happily perch in the rafters.
"I can organize a small search team, while the rest stay behind to continue construction." Arcee mentioned to the conversing brothers.
"Can I be on the team?" Bumblebee asked from where he sat by the window.
"No, you're staying to help with construction." Arcee shook her helm at the youngling.
"Oh, come'on." Bumblebee whined.
"No Bee, it's not safe." The femme continued to refuse the youngling.
"I'm a scout, I can help search, please, it's not fair." The yellow youngling continued to whine and complain.
"Bumblebee, that is what's happening, you're not going up against Shockwave, and that is final. Do you understand me?" Soundwave hissed at his whiney little brother.
Bumblebee slightly cowered when his eldest brother snapped at him, running what Soundwave had said, through his processor. "Understood Soundwave."
Arcee gave a small smile at the yellow youngling. "So, what did you get up to today?"
Bumblebee cocked his helm at the femme. "What do you mean, you were with me pretty much the whole time?"
"That's not true, I was with my sister for most of the solar cycle. I only saw you with the twins, and Jazz." Arcee replied.
"Oh, well, Mirage and I raced around in the streets this morning." Bumblebee excitedly said to Arcee.
"That would explain the tire screeching my mother was complaining about." Arcee chuckled smirking at Mirage.
Soundwave exited the front room, striding down the hallway to his quarters, he knew Arcee would be sending Bumblebee to go recharge, and forcefully suggesting the same to Mirage.
For the next few mega cycles Soundwave tried to solve the mystery that was Shockwave's new project.
"Soundwave, you are never going to recharge, if you stress about Shockwave all night." Arcee sighed, sitting up in the berth with her mech.
"Unfortunately, I will stress about Shockwave, until he is caught successfully." Soundwave replied getting out of the berth.
"Where are you going?" The femme sighed watching her mech make his way to the door.
"Just for a walk, to clear my processor." The glowing mech replied, exiting the room.
"Fine just come home after, don't be chasing Shockwave by yourself." Arcee called after her mech.
Walking down the streets of Iacon, Soundwave walked the outskirts of Iacon, on the border of Kaon and Iacon. The pristine streets of Iacon, soon became the rough, and dirty, streets of Kaon. The young mech could hardly believe that this was considered rejuvenated, it made him think that Kaon had always been in rough shape, and was destined to be that way.
Soundwave halted, hearing a very faint, almost undetectable, pattering of peds following him in the distance. Gazing out at the field of scrap metal, littered with thick barbed wire vines. The young mech vaguely remembered hiding in the thick scrap metal, when Megatron had abducted him from Optimus, a very long time ago, before Optimus was even named a Prime.
Soundwave figured he would humour, whoever, was trying to sneak up on him. Figuring it was Mirage following him on his jaunt, the glowing mech continued forward, walking along the scrap field.
Faint growling came from the scrap, once again stopping the young mech in his tracks. Soundwave materialized his visor, walking towards the field, scanning the scrap for signs of life. The closer he got, the louder the growling got, looking lower, he finally located a creature crouching.
Before the young mech could investigate the creature, a feline like minicon pounced at him, with sharp dental plates, and razor claws.
Soundwave deflected the attacker, quickly pivoting to see what was attacking him, surprised to see a very familiar old friend. "Ravage?!"
The feline stopped it's hissing, it's audio receptors darting forward, trying to figure out if he recognized the voice print, which he could not. Bearing his sharp metal fangs, the minicon growled, wondering who this glowing Cybertronian biped was.
"Ravage, I know it's been a very long time since you've seen me last, and I apologize for that. I'm not here to cause you any grief, it's me, Soundwave." The masked young mech explained calmly, to which the minicon listened curiously. "You helped me escape my captors, when I was a sparkling." Soundwave removed his visor, hoping to trigger a visual recognition for the minicon.
Ravage scanned the young mech's unique blue and red optics, recognizing them immediately, his olfactory sensors taking in the violet mech's unique scent that fed off the energy of Primus, emitting from the young mech's spark. Realizing the biped before him, was in fact, the sparkling that bestowed his name upon him deca cycles ago.
The moment Ravage excepted his presence, Soundwave did some vital scans on the feline minicon, realizing Ravage was weak, and energon deficient. "You must've went into stasis lock, during the downfall of Cybertron." The violet mech thought aloud, gently stroking the purring cyber feline's helm.
Ravage rubbed his frame against the violet young mech's stabilizer servo, transmitting an electric zapping through the young mech, creating a new spark bond, claiming Soundwave as his new master.
Soundwave smiled at the Cyber Feline that had chosen to bond to him. "I missed you to, I should have searched for you during the war, I apologize." The violet mech sighed, looking back in the direction of his home. "Hmm... follow me."
Ravage warily followed his new master through the swirling green portal that appeared, into the quiet Cybertronian homestead. Keeping close to his master's side, following Soundwave into the scullery.
Soundwave chuckled warmly when he felt Ravage's large front paws on his stabilizer servo, looking down to see the Cyber Feline staring up at him longingly. "Patience Ravage, I'm getting you some energon." He patted the black and silver feline's helm. "Don't worry, you don't have to scavenge around to survive any more. You can live here, with Lazerbeak. There are three other bots that live here as well, but you can meet them when the sunrises, they're all recharging right now."
Ravage put his front paws back on the floor, his curiosity getting the better of him, he silently slunk himself to the end of the hallway, pushing himself into what must've been Soundwave's quarters, judging by the scent. His audio receptors erected forward, hearing the femme in the berth shift in her recharge. Ravage curiously walked over to the side of the berth where the slumbering cobalt blue femme lay peacefully, unsuspecting.
"The two younglings that live here, will absolutely love you, but my sparkmate may need a little convincing at first. But Arcee is usually pretty reasonable." Soundwave unknowingly spoke to no one but himself, while he finished prepping Ravage's energon. "Okay Ravage, here's your energon..." The violet mech placed the energon cube on the floor, noticing the minicon was no where in sight. "Scrap..."
"Aaah, what the frag!" Arcee screamed, pressing herself up against the head of the berth.
Ravage hissed, leaping back in surprise, hearing his master's peds rushing towards him.
Soundwave rushed down the hallway to see Arcee standing on the berth with her gun drawn.
"Soundwave, what the frag is this!?" Arcee yelled at her mech.
"Whoa, Arcee, shh!" The violet mech tried to shush his surprised femme.
"What the frag is that thing, Soundwave, and why's it in the house?!" Arcee hissed, gesturing to the Cyber Feline with her gun.
"This is Ravage, he's a Cyber Feline, minicon, he's harmless, unless you're a threat!" Soundwave quickly replied, patting the feline's helm, to calm the defensive minicon.
"Is Arcee freaking out about nothing?" Mirage asked over the open com channel. "You're a strange one Soundwave, she should know that by now."
"Shut up Mirage, go back to recharging!" The femme hissed ending the call.
"Everything's fine Mirage, go back to recharging." Soundwave replied, also ending the call.
Arcee warily stepped off the berth, keeping her glare on the large feline. "Soundwave, please explain, what the hell this creature is doing in our home?"
"Ravage is one of my minicons, just like Lazerbeak, I just found him on the street." Soundwave explained, encouraging his sparkmate to come greet Ravage.
"Of course he is..." Arcee rolled her optics, giving a gentle pat to the feline's helm. "I'm assuming Ravage, is a new addition to our home?"
Soundwave sheepishly grinned at his sparkmate, while Ravage purred, rubbing up against the femme.
"I'm not going to argue, Ravage is obviously another one of your minicons, just like Lazerbeak, and I know how much he means to you." Arcee smiled at the black feline. "Ravage's fangs, just better not be the first thing I see every time I wake." the femme glared at her violet mech.
"I promise he won't, Ravage, there's energon for you in the scullery." Soundwave pointed his minicon out the door.
Ravage crooned in acknowledgement, calmly leaving the room, to go find the energon his master spoke of.
"That thing... Ravage, was it? He's not going to tear apart our home?" Arcee stuck her helm out the door, watching the Cyber Feline make his way down the hallway.
"No promises, but I can return him if needed. Ravage should be basically inconspicuous." Soundwave replied with an optic roll.
"I didn't think of you as someone to just release a bonded minicon back into the wild." Arcee scoffed, watching Ravage sniff every door in the hallway.
"No, I meant as I do with Lazerbeak, when I ask him to return to me." The violet mech mech replied, gesturing to his drone's resting spot on his torso.
"You have room on your slender frame, for another minicon?" The femme laughed poking her mech in the stomach.
"Yes, we are constantly transforming, it's literally no different, the process is simple once they've bonded to you." Soundwave explained, watching Ravage investigate the different scents in the home.
"Are you sure he can find the energon, he seems a bit confused?" The cobalt blue femme questioned the feline's odd behaviour.
"Ravage is just taking in the knew scents, he's got incredible olfactory sensors, and tracking abilities." As soon as he mentioned the minicon's tracking ability, Arcee glared at the violet mech.
"So that's what you were doing, tracking down your pet, so you can go after Shockwave, and get his precise location." Arcee folded her arms.
"No, I was actually just going for a walk, Ravage found me. He was in rough shape, so I brought him home." The glowing mech shrugged, guiding his femme back to the berth.
"Right, and now you're coaxing me back to recharging, so you can go hunt down the mad scientist?" Arcee sarcastically scoffed, getting back into the berth.
Soundwave sighed getting into the berth with his femme. "I'm going to rest for the night, didn't I just tell you, Ravage is in rough shape?" he replied to his femme's wrong prediction. "I'm giving Ravage, time to refuel, and refresh."
"Okay." Arcee's smile soon turned to a frown. "Have you seen, or heard, from Megatron lately?"
Soundwave blinked, he hadn't really thought about the former warlord, during his pursuit to find the mad scientist. "No, why, you think Megatron would actually contact me?"
"That's not what I meant Soundwave." Arcee rolled her optics shaking her helm at Soundwave.
"I don't know if Megatron is still on Cybertron." The violet mech replied.
The morning came quickly, Soundwave was the first awake, as per usual. Ravage recharged at the door to the bedroom, greeting his master as he came out. Soundwave looked up at the ceiling rafters as he entered the front room, locating Lazerbeak who was still perched, recharging. Surprisingly Bumblebee was the second one to wake, the youngling was ecstatic to be greeted by the Cyber Feline.
"Ravage is so cool Soundwave!" Bumblebee excitedly mentioned, petting the purring Cyber Feline.
Soundwave smiled approaching the minicon and youngling with energon in hand. "He certainly is, here's some energon."
"Thank you." Bumblebee took the low grade energon that was handed to him. "What about Ravage?" The youngling chuckled as Ravage tried to get some of his energon.
"Ravage no, your energon is right here." The glowing mech pointed to the energon cube laying on the floor next to the scullery.
Ravage crooned noticing the cobalt blue femme entering the front room, rubbing up against her legs as she tried to walk.
"Good morning to you to, can I move, I'm going to trip." Arcee greeted the very affectionate Cyber Feline.
"Ravage..." Soundwave gestured to the energon he put out for the minicon.
Ravage trotted obediently to the energon, eagerly lapping it up.
"Thank you." Arcee thanked her mech who handed her some energon. "So minicons, and Bumblebee, no Mirage yet?" The femme thought aloud.
"Not yet." Soundwave replied with a shrug.
"I'm just surprised Mirage isn't awake yet." Arcee said to her mech who walked over to one of the front windows.
"Mirage was hit by two harsh explosions yesterday, he inflicted more damage then I did. If he wants to rest a bit longer, that is fine." The violet mech explained to his sparkmate.
"I feel like I never get the full story with you two..." the femme groaned, joining her mech by the window. "I thought you two were in a rush to hunt down Shockwave?"
"Yes, we still are..." Soundwave stopped talking when a group of Autobot femmes transformed in front of their home. "Why is your mother here?"
"Like you said, you needed assistance with tracking down Shockwave, so I organized a small team." Arcee explained to her sparkmate.
"Firestar is the best bot for that?" Soundwave scoffed.
"You're not even going to be with my mother why are you complaining?" Arcee retorted going over to answer the door.
Soundwave groaned in displeasure, joining his femme at the door. "Because Firestar made it very clear that she highly dislikes me, she will disregard anything I have to say about this hunt, and just mock me."
Arcee was silent for a moment, before smiling sheepishly. "Okay, you're absolutely right about that, but you still asked for the help." Arcee said before opening the door to greet the arriving Autobots.
"So are you bots ready for a hunt?" Moonracer exuberantly greeted the couple.
"Always." Arcee smirked at the enthusiastic femme.
"I haven't tracked in ages, this should be refreshing." Chromia added, to which her mother nodded in agreement.
"Yes it's been some time since I have tracked down Decepticon fugitives, but I think I can get my gears oiled up..." Firestar said, catching Soundwave's brightly burning mixed coloured optics, out the corner of her optic.
Arcee caught her mother's flabbergasted gaze, wondering what she was staring at. "Is something wrong?"
"I had not thought you had a face." Firestar said, bringing everyone's attention to the young mech behind the femme.
"Soundwave, he's always had a face, with those stunning optics." Moonracer scoffed with a chuckle. "I guess you two didn't see Soundwave as a sparkling."
"Actually that is incorrect." Soundwave spoke to the group of femme's. "I actually had my face melted off on a mission, when I was a youngling, Shockwave replaced it with my visor. Until recently, I am very thankful to have my face restored." The violet mech almost tried to stop himself from speaking, shocked at himself for actually explaining his past trauma.
"That's horrible..." Chromia cringed at Soundwave's explanation.
Moonracer sighed sympathetically. "Well it's nice that you were able to restore your face. I'm sure it wasn't easy..."
"Then why choose to hide behind your mask still?" Firestar asked bluntly.
"I have a majority of functions, I can only access by using my visor, so I do still use my visor quite frequently." The violet mech replied simply, although he did choose to use his visor as a way to hide his emotions from others.
"Mhmm..." Firestar cocked an optic ridge at the violet mech, not exactly believing that was the whole truth.
"So... we're just waiting on Mirage to emerge from recharge, did you want to come inside for a moment?" Arcee changed the subject, gesturing for Soundwave to open the door to their home.
"The feisty little youngling is still recharging, thought you said he was an early riser?" Chromia scoffed as Soundwave opened the door.
"I think the encounter with Shockwave, shook him a bit." Arcee shrugged, before a shrill of panicked chirps hit their audio receptors.
"Ravage, no!" Bumblebee tried to pull the panicking drone out of the Cyber Feline's jaws.
Soundwave gasped quickly leaping over to the yellow youngling. "Ravage, release Lazerbeak now!"
Ravage immediately spat the drone out, upon hearing Soundwave's angered command. Lazerbeak twittered, flying away in a panic, swooping at the femmes, who all ducked with a squeal, before quickly returning to Soundwave's torso.
"What the frag is with the minicons?!" Chromia gasped, keeping an optic nerve on the Cyber Feline.
"They're Soundwave's, he just recently reconnected with this one last night." Arcee replied giving Ravage a pat on the helm.
"And you're alright with these, pets scrounging around wildly in your home?" Firestar raised an optic ridge at her youngest daughter.
"Well, they're a part of Soundwave, and that makes them family, they're usually pretty content. And they give us an extra sense of security." Arcee replied with a shrug, watching Mirage emerge from the hallway. "Honestly the younglings are more troubling than the minicons." The femme joked smirking at Mirage.
"How would you know, I'm usually cloaked when I'm causing trouble?" Mirage grumbled emotionlessly, joining the conversation.
"Very funny." Arcee rolled her optics. "Nice of you to finally join us."
"Yes I am well... what the frag is that!?" Mirage gasped pointing to the black Cyber Feline with silver stockings.
"Ravage, a new addition to Soundwave's collection of minicons." Chromia explained to the freaked out youngling.
"Uhuh... so are you just collecting every minicon you find?" Mirage cautiously walked around the feline.
"No, I knew Ravage a long time ago. Should we get going now?" Soundwave said gesturing to the door.
"Where are we going?" Bumblebee asked, reminding his guardians that he was present.
"Scrap, I forgot to call the twins last night..." Arcee cursed forgetting to find a safe place for the scout to go.
"Go to Maccadams, meet the twins, and help them." Soundwave suggested to the disappointed scout, he knew the twins would love Bumblebee's company regardless of being told to watch the youngling.
Bumblebee sighed drooping his doorwings following them out of their home. "Okay..."
"Maybe we will join you later for a game." The violet mech added perking up the youngling's spirit.
"Okay, see you later!" Bumblebee excitedly left to go find the twins.
"Remember to call when you find the twins!" Arcee called after the youngling, who honked his horn in response.
"So what's the plan Soundwave?" Moonracer turned to the violet young mech.
"I suggest we split into multiple teams, the more spread out we can get, the better chance of locating any of the rogue fugitives roaming Cybertron." Soundwave began, materializing his visor to display the search areas. "Currently the only know fugitives roaming, are Megatron, and Shockwave, consider them both extremely dangerous. If you stumble upon one of Shockwave's laboratories take cation, touch nothing if possible, they are usually set with traps. Shockwave is cloning Insecticons, possibly other weapons as well, take extreme cation, call for help if you happen to fall into imminent danger." Soundwave finished his briefing, turning his helm to his sparkmate, who was observing Mirage.
Arcee quickly realized Soundwave was waiting for her to make the teams, and mention anything worth noting to his briefing. "Right, Moonracer..." before Arcee could say anything further her sister quickly pulled her in close.
"Do not pair me with our mother, I have dealt with her enough..." Chromia spoke through her dental plates, clearly fed up with their creator.
"Fine..." Arcee sighed rolling her optics. "Moonracer, you're with Chromia, I will go with my mother, Soundwave, you're good with Mirage." The cobalt blue femme assigned the teams.
"Okay, so where are we starting out?" Firestar asked openly.
"Mirage and I will return to the scene where we found Shockwave, if we want to fan out in the Sea Of Rust that would be ideal, but I also wouldn't be opposed to anyone who wanted to check Crystal City." Soundwave mentioned to Mirage's dismay.
"Why don't you head to the Sea Of Rust, Arcee, and I will head to Crystal City, while Moonracer, and Chromia scan Kaon." Firestar suggested instead.
Soundwave nodded in agreement to the better search plan. "We will do that, everyone keep in contact, check in with each other, keep an open com channel."
Mirage visibly jumped when a gentle servo touched his shoulder. Looking to see Arcee giving him a look of concern.
"Are you feeling alright, you seem off?" The concerned femme asked the youngling.
"I'm okay, I guess..." Mirage gave an empty reply, he didn't feel exactly ready to get back into the field.
"If you want to sit this one out it's okay." Arcee told the uneasy youngling.
Mirage was silent for a moment, looking at the other femme's conversing with each other. "I don't want to go..."
Arcee nodded in understanding, giving Mirage a sympathetic smile. "Okay."
"Can you tell Soundwave?" Mirage felt ashamed that he couldn't push himself to join his brother in hunting their enemy.
"Of course." Arcee gave a reassuring smile to the youngling that backed towards the door. "Maybe go see Ratchet today." She suggested as the assassin slunk back into their home with a small nod.
Soundwave noticed his brother disappear back into the house. "Where's Mirage going?" he asked his femme who rejoined the group.
"He's not feeling well, Mirage is going to sit this one out." Arcee replied to her mech.
"Is he going to be okay?" Soundwave asked concerned.
"I already notified Ratchet, he said if Mirage doesn't show up at the medical facility he'll get Ironhide to pay him a visit." The cobalt blue femme reassured her worried mech.
Soundwave nodded reluctantly, deeply concerned for his brother's wellbeing.
"If little flame isn't coming with, who's Soundwave pairing with?" Moonracer questioned.
"I have Ravage and a Lazerbeak, but if any of you want to accompany me, that's fine as well." The young mech said upon opening a ground bridge.
"If you believe those two are enough, we could always call Opt... Ironhide, or Jazz?" Arcee quickly caught herself before she could fully mention her mech's deceased creator.
Soundwave watched as the rest of the team exited the bridge, thinking to himself, that Optimus would've probably captured Shockwave when they found the scientist yesterday. "I'll be alright." He replied, trying not to think too much about his deceased creator.
"Alright, we'll keep the com open." Arcee nodded, mentally cursing herself for slipping up, knowing her mistake was causing Soundwave's laments to surface.
Soundwave pivoted to part ways with the femmes, after he stepped a small distance away, he was halted by a gentle servo grasping his arm.
Once her mech turned to face her, Arcee pulled her mech closer. "I'm sorry, are you sure that you're going to be alright on your own?"
Soundwave smirked under his visor, with a soft chuckle. "Yes, I will alert you if otherwise."
"I'm going to meet up with you if we find no leads." Arcee told her mech anyway, giving her mech a quick peck on the visor before rejoining her mother.
"Ravage, return." Soundwave commanded his newest minicon to transform.
Ravage did as he was commanded, fusing himself onto his master's back, almost unnoticeable to the unsuspecting optic.
Soundwave transformed, flying a small distance to the scene of his latest battle with Shockwave. Transforming taking note of the smouldering ground. "Ravage, I need you to pick up on a fresh energon trail." He ordered releasing Ravage.
The feline took in the destroyed ground, sticking his muzzle into the air, using his olfactory sensors to take in all the scents. Filtering through the smoke and plasma, he picked up a faint energon scent.
The violet young mech observed his minicon's behaviour, watching Ravage pick up on a scent, as he followed the feline.
The black feline slunk through the wreckage, locating the beginning of the energon trail. Ravage crooned excitedly, before running off exuberantly tracking the scent.
Soundwave jogged behind his minicon, trying to pick up the trail Ravage was on. After a while of running, the Cyber Feline led him to an underground cavern, this time a more modern surrounding, instead of a spread out, damp, science lab.
Ravage rounded the corner, growling deeply, once he had reached the end of the scent trail.
Soundwave rounded the corner as well, to see what the feline was upset about. The young mech drew his helm back, surprised at who they had located.
"I'm not who you were searching for, am I?" The drawl tone of the former Decepticon leader spoke to the surprised young mech.
Soundwave didn't reply, as his spark was beating rapidly in response to finding Megatron. The former warlord sat on a slab of concrete, he looked tired, depressed, and defeated.
"You're after Shockwave?" Megatron continued to question his brother's youngling.
Soundwave nodded slowly, scanning Megatron as he did so. Taking note that his former leader had forcefully removed the ugly upgrades to his armour, that the Anti Spark gave him.
"But, Shockwave's not the only one you seek, to bring to justice..." Megatron stood up to Ravage's disliking, the Cyber Feline swatted at him, slicing the former Decepticon leader's leg, drawing energon.
"Ravage, stand down!" Soundwave ordered, to which his minicon obeyed with a reluctant growl, still keeping himself between his master and the massive mech.
Megatron gave a emotionless smirk. "No need for bloodlust, I will come quietly."
The glowing young mech cocked his helm curiously at the surrendering mech, attempting to figure out if this surrender was some kind of deceptive trick.
"Soundwave, I denounced the Decepticons, I have excepted my defeat. Accept this victory without any opposition." Megatron's defeated monotone was very convincing.
Soundwave being a pacifist, decided to reluctantly take the supposed offer to peacefully surrender. But not without restraints.
Megatron stuck his servos out, allowing Soundwave to put on the pair of stasis cuffs he presented.
The violet young mech created a ground bridge to the enforcement station, giving a small hand gesture for Ravage to help escort the warlord.
Megatron watched as Ravage followed close behind him as they entered the bridge. "You have good reason to distrust me."
Soundwave stayed silent while he escorted his former leader.
"Megatron?!" Starscream gasped as the young mech passed his cell, with Megatron in restraints.
Megatron kept his word, entering his designated cell. Ravage stood guard in front of the cell. The former warlord allowed Soundwave to remove the stasis cuffs, once the cuffs were removed, he grasped Soundwave's arm, forcefully pulling the youngling to him.
Ravage snarled, charging into the cell to defend his master.
"Ravage, hold!" Soundwave held up his free servo, halting the feline in his tracks.
"I'm not going to harm your master." Megatron promised the minicon. "I just want to ask if you will promise me something." He turned his attention back to the young mech.
Soundwave yanked his arm out from Megatron's grasp. "Then ask..."
"Visit me, during my imprisonment."
Soundwave stood rigid, staring blankly at his former leader.
"I'll let you think about it." Megatron said breaking the silence. "Go capture the monster I regretfully called my friend."
Soundwave exited the cell with Ravage, activating the cells forcefield wall.
"Soundwave, check in, we're not picking up any leads. I'm going to rendezvous with you." Arcee said over the young mech's comlink.
"Arcee, are you sure Soundwave has his comms on?" Firestar sighed, after hearing her daughter repeat herself over again.
"He's a communications chief, I would think so, Soundwave also said he wanted us to keep open comms." Arcee told her mother.
Firestar rolled her optics, scanning the ground again for any tracks. "So, those younglings that are living with you, aren't yours?"
"No, they're both Optimus's younglings." Arcee replied to her mother, still focusing on trying to gain an answer from her mech.
"Hmm, you two are their guardians then?" Firestar continued to question.
"Both of their creators are offline, so yes I suppose so, but they've always been a part of the family." The cobalt blue femme sighed.
"You two are very good with them, are you planning on having your own sparklings?" The red and gold femme asked making Arcee groan.
"Ugh... is that why you were so quiet this whole time?" Arcee glared at her mother.
Firestar sighed, walking over to her daughter. "Look I know you'll fight with me to the Allspark, about being with a Decepticon like Soundwave, I am trying to keep a positive outlook about you two."
The cobalt blue femme sighed with an optic roll, not noticing a ground bridge opening. "No, we just restored our planet, and Soundwave's not a Decepticon."
"That is correct, I am not a Decepticon." Soundwave said, making his sparkmate visibly jump.
"Why weren't you answering my calls!?" Arcee hissed at the slender mech.
"I was preoccupied with a fugitive." Soundwave replied, stroking Ravage's helm.
"You found Shockwave?" Arcee asked, a little annoyed her mech didn't alert her to it.
"No... not exactly..." Soundwave turned his helm away.
"You found him, really?!" Arcee gasped making her mother anxious.
With a slight nod, Soundwave confirmed his femme's theory.
"Are you alright, did Megatron get away?" Arcee asked checking over her mech's usually scarred frame.
"I'm fine, Megatron came quietly, he's in a cell, I'm sure being tortured by Starscream constantly trying to reignite him as a Decepticon leader." The violet mech replied to both femme's surprise.
"Really is that so?" Firestar questioned, unconvinced by the young mech's explanation.
Soundwave brought up the enforcement station surveillance videos, switching through the channels, stopping on the prison cells, presenting the Decepticon Air Commander, and the former Warlord in the next cell, sitting on the floor staring blankly at the forcefield imprisoning him in the cell.
"How did you come across him?" Firestar asked curiously.
"Ravage tracked him down, I asked him to track down the freshest track, hoping to find Shockwave. I guess Megatron went to investigate after the explosion went off yesterday." Soundwave replied to his femme's creator.
"Well, if we don't find Shockwave, at least we were somewhat successful in tracking down a Decepticon fugitive. And the worst one, at that." The red and gold femme scoffed.
"Indeed, we should continue our search though." Soundwave nodded, leading the way to the next destination.
"Shouldn't we be guarding the leader of the Decepticons?" The red and gold femme asked, following the couple.
"I informed Ironhide of Megatron's capture, he's setting up guards, as we speak." The young mech replied simply continuing to lead the femmes into Crystal City.
Mirage jumped at the sound of knocking on the front door. Opening the door to find the weapon specialist standing tall, with a few Eradicon soldiers. "Ironhide, hi..."
"Soundwave captured Megatron, he's in the prison cells, at the enforcement station." Ironhide greeted the confused youngling.
"Really, wow, was not expecting him to be captured so quickly..." Mirage thought aloud.
"Neither did I, but since we have the Decepticon lord himself, we need extra security, and Ratchet mentioned you were home." Ironhide scoffed with a laugh, smiling at his squad of guards.
"Well, you're the right mech for the job..." The red youngling backed towards the door, trying to end the conversation.
"And you're the right youngling to assist with that job." Ironhide replied shutting the door before the youngling could retreat into the home.
"Oh, I'm not sure I'm the guarding type..." Mirage sighed, resting his back against the closed door.
"Don't be like that kid, having the presence of a super soldier on guard, will deter others from breaking that bastard out." Ironhide wrapped an arm around the reluctant youngling. "Come'on, if you're not feeling it, you can come back here and hide."
Mirage groaned pushing past Ironhide and the Eradicons. "Fine, let's go!"
Ironhide chuckled as the youngling transformed driving off to the enforcement station. "Grumpy little bugger, he's going to help us greatly, I just wouldn't like to be at the end of his blade. So that goes for all of you, stay on his good side."
"I've been at the end of his blade before, I was lucky to still have my spark." A black and red Eradicon mentioned following Ironhide with the squad.
"Right, I keep forgetting you were Decepticons, you're such good bots to be around." Ironhide laughed transforming.
"Thank you sir." The Eradicon thanked his Commander before transforming, following the large black truck.
Mirage stomped down to the extra secure brigs, coming across the two imprisoned Decepticons.
"Oh good, Soundwave sent his little scrapheap to do the guarding." Starscream sarcastically thought aloud when the red youngling came into view.
Mirage slammed a fist against the cells forcefield barrier, making the seeker jump. "Shut up Starscream, remember who the scrapheap is here. You're in a cell, doing nothing but waiting for your next scrap of energon, with nothing to do, but reflect on the poor choices you made as a Decepticon." The youngling hissed, making the seeker wince.
"It's a horrid fate, but a fate reserved for the worst of sparks. Take the punishment Starscream, it's all we have left." Megatron's voice made Mirage tremble inside.
Stepping away from seeker's cell, Mirage warily peeked to look in the next cell. He could see the warlord was sitting in the middle of his empty cell, staring at the empty wall across from him.
"That's not exactly what my fate will be, Soundwave has offered me a job as an air commander, to protect Cybertron." Starscream boasted. "But only after I finish my sentence, and the new council sees me as a suitable Cybertronian." Starscream grumbled, seeing the unconvinced glare the youngling was giving him.
Mirage didn't like seeing the mech that murdered him during their last battle on Earth. He secretly wished Unicron had not resurrected the former warlord.
"Has the glowing brat offered you redemption Lord Megatron?" Starscream questioned leaning against the forcefield wall that separated his cell from Megatron's.
"Do not address me by that, I am no longer the lord of Decepticons." The grey mech hissed angrily. "Soundwave has not offered me redemption, and I will not ask for it, nor do I deserve it. I cannot be redeemed for the fatalities I have caused, to both our planet, and our race." The massive mech's tone was so drawl and monotone, it even made Mirage feel depressed.
Mirage exchanged gazes with the seeker, hearing the realization being spoken from the former warlord was unexpected.
"Soundwave would be a fool to offer me such a luxury."
Mirage knew Soundwave would consider giving Megatron a second... third chance at a new life. But with Megatron openly saying Soundwave would be foolish to do so, it made the youngling think maybe the former warlord wasn't opposed to starting another revolution. Mirage mentally cursed himself, wishing he had the use of his brother's mind reading capabilities, Megatron's words were something to consider, but his tone was dead, and defeated, was the warlord truly just speaking truth?
Ravage picked up on a faint track, leading the small team further into Crystal City, where they found Chromia, and Moonracer coming up from Kaon.
"Any signs of life, abomination, or mad scientist?" Chromia asked, holstering her scoped rifle.
"Ravage picked up a track, but I am more inclined to believe he was tracking Shockwave, losing his track and picking up on yours." Soundwave shrugged, watching his minicon sniff around for another track. "If my calculations, and theory is correct, I believe Shockwave bridged out of here, most likely his only way to evade us, for now."
"For now?" Moonracer repeated, confused.
"What's that supposed to mean, are we just giving up this hunt?" Chromia spat, just as confused.
"No, of course not." Soundwave warily replied, getting glared at by all the femmes.
"Okay, then what's the next step, on this wild scraplet chase?" Firestar groaned waiting for a real answer.
"We can either find the laboratory Shockwave was recently at, and try to obtain whatever information he left behind, though I am positive I collected what data he had forgotten to purge before parting from his previous laboratories." Soundwave thought aloud. "But the best option would be for us to return so I can track down Shockwave's recent bridge jumps."
"Alright, I agree we should get back to Iacon, since we've already captured the king of cons, at this point Shockwave is an after thought. We should assist in guarding the dangerous tyrant, who knows if Megatron's planning an escape with that coward Commander of his." Firestar scoffed to the team, agreeing with Soundwave's plan.
Soundwave wasn't completely thrilled about the nonchalant attitude the others had towards Shockwave. The mad scientist was considerably dangerous, before he even met Megatron. "Shockwave's not..." Soundwave was interrupted by his femme gently patting him on the back.
"Shh, it's alright, we will continue to search for Shockwave, once we get more leads. He's a danger, and needs to be stopped." Arcee pressed her servo on her mech's back, escorting him forward.
"Come'on Ravage." Soundwave sighed, getting his sparkmate's hint.
The three other femmes shrugged in response to Arcee escorting Soundwave, figuring she was preventing the young mech from some sort of rant. Following the young couple into the bridge Soundwave created.
"Thank you for assisting with our search, we appreciate the help." Soundwave thanked the three femmes.
"Sure, just give us a call if you need another assist." Chromia nodded leading her mother and Moonracer down the street.
"Who's first?" Arcee sighed watching the femmes disappear down the street.
"Mirage." Soundwave knew his sparkmate was referring to which youngling they were going to check in with. "If you want to head to Maccadam's and see how Bee is, that would be fine, while I see how Mirage is doing." He suggested, as Ironhide approached them.
"Mirage is guarding the brig, at the station. I left some extra security there, since we've got such a highly dangerous target in our prison." Ironhide mentioned to the young couple. "What in the pits is that?" The large mech pointed at the Cyber Feline.
"That's Ravage, he's one of my minicons." The young mech replied in short, tired of continuously repeating that answer. "I didn't think you'd be able to drag Mirage out of the house." Soundwave scoffed.
"Well, it took quite a bit of convincing, but he eventually gave in. I don't know what's going on with that youngling, it's like he's spooked or something. Mirage took off to the station in a huff, but he halted not far from where he left. Waiting for us to catch up, now that's just unlike the grumpy youngling. Mirage also seems very leery near Megatron's cell." The weapon specialist explained to the violet young mech.
Soundwave nodded in response to the information given, he continued onwards towards the enforcement station, with Ravage in tow.
"Thanks Hide, do you think you could check on the twins at Maccadam's, I just want to make sure Bee's not getting into trouble." Arcee asked the weapon specialist.
"Of course, the twins are really excited to be reanimating the old oil house, I don't think they'll be getting into too much trouble." Ironhide replied with chuckle.
"Thanks." Arcee thanked the massive mech, before rejoining her mech in the enforcement station.
"I'll send Mirage up, I believe he will be more inclined to talk to you, rather than myself." Soundwave said as he descended the stairs to the highly fortified prison cells.
"Sure, Soundwave." Arcee nodded in agreement, although she somewhat disagreed, and thought Mirage would be more comfortable talking to his brother.
Mirage visibly jumped, when he heard a purring coming from the steps behind him, causing him to stumble off the last step he was standing on. Catching sight of his eldest brother, and his minicon.
"Mirage, I can take over for you." Soundwave said making a mental note of his younger brother's skittish behaviour.
"Really, are you sure?" Mirage asked, secretly happy to be dismissed from guarding his killer.
Soundwave nodded, gesturing for the youngling to climb the stairs. "Yes, Arcee is already waiting for you."
"Oh, okay, so you're going to stay here?" Mirage asked climbing the first step.
"Yes, for the moment. But I will talk with you later." The violet mech promised.
Mirage nodded, giving one last glance at the cells, before ascending the stairs. Finding Arcee looking over data pads at her desk.
"Ugh, would it kill bots to put things in order." Arcee groaned looking up from the data pads to see Mirage. "Hey Mirage, sorry, just trying to organize these reports."
"Shouldn't there only be like two of them, since we only have Starscream and Megatron?" The red youngling cocked his helm.
Arcee gave a soft chuckle. "I wish, but no, we have to document our attempts at capturing Shockwave, and any information that we gather, among other things."
Mirage nodded in understanding, his gaze drifting towards the station's exit.
Arcee followed the youngling's gaze. "You can go find Bee if you'd like, I will catch up, I just have to organize these first."
"No!" Mirage quickly shook his helm, dreading venturing off on his own. "I... I, can wait..."
Arcee softened her optics with concern, at the youngling's very uncharacteristic reply. "Sure Mirage, did you want to go back down to Soundwave? I probably won't be very entertaining."
Mirage looked over at the door leading to the staircase, shaking his helm no. "I'm fine here." He said sitting in the seat in front of the femme's desk.
"Is everything alright Mirage?" Arcee finally asked the seemingly frightened young assassin.
Mirage nodded at first, before turning his nod into a helm shake.
"What's the matter?" Arcee put down the data pads she held, giving the youngling her full attention.
"I don't know why I am like this..." Mirage began. "I guess I'm just scared, but I was fine before we ran into Shockwave." The youngling shamefully sighed.
"You were in two explosions yesterday, I believe it triggered the memories of your death." Arcee said to the youngling, who seemed to unwillingly agree with her.
"Okay, maybe you're right... can we talk about this later please?" Mirage uncomfortably asked his understanding guardian.
Arcee nodded with a warm smile. "When you're ready, we can talk about it."
Megatron looked over his shoulder to see a familiar violet glowing hue. "Uh, you've returned..."
"This doesn't mean I have agreed to your wanted promise." Soundwave quickly replied to the former warlord.
"Oh, I understand." Megatron pivoted to face the young mech. "I shouldn't have asked you to promise me anything. I would take it merely as a gesture, a simple request." The gunmetal grey mech stared into his reflection off Soundwave's visor.
Soundwave stood silently, seeing Starscream observing their interactions curiously from his cell.
"You had no such luck finding Shockwave, since you didn't bring his head down here." Megatron took note of the Cyber Feline pacing outside his cell, guarding from the other side of the energy barrier.
Soundwave continued to stare silently, unmoving, contemplating whether he should activate his mind reading, or trust the warlord would give him information about the fugitive scientist.
Megatron frowned, taking a step back. "Hmmm... there's many times I wished I could've know what you were thinking?"
"Would you have cared?" The violet young mech replied coldly, turning to see his minicon impatiently pacing outside the cell.
The massive mech sighed, turning away. "I cared for very little during my Decepticon reign. But now..."
"Save me, the sudden change of spark." Soundwave growled, watching the mech stroll over towards the energized barrier.
Ravage hissed, jumping at the barrier, trying to claw at the massive mech standing near the forcefield wall.
"You've grown short fused, during the rebuilding of our planet." Megatron scoffed to the snappy youngling.
"No, I've grown to understand how to filter through guilt tactics. I am not falling prey to feeling sympathy for you." Soundwave hissed, storming over to the former warlord. "You killed my brother in cold blood, I managed to save his spark, but he is forever traumatized by that experience. You dabbled in Unicron's blood, and poisoned our society, you murdered millions without a second thought. You may be capable of changing, and finally realize your mistakes, but you have a deep, dark, hole to climb out of, and your wings are clipped!"
[And I deserved the death you served me in that time...] Megatron kept his frown, he didn't want sympathy, though he respected Soundwave's hot headed passion, to make him see the truth to the destruction he had caused. "I am not looking for sympathy, nor would I ever ask for it."
Soundwave took a step back, allowing his former leader to have some ventilation space. "I'm listening..."
"All I am asking for is a distant companion, I know I don't deserve one, given that I have mentally scarred, and killed any who would've considered my companionship." Megatron sighed heavily, he had never truly had a friendship during his commanding of deceptive Decepticons. The only true friendship he ever had was with Orion Pax and Xanthia.
"I will visit, not for the sake of a being your companion." The violet mech gave into the mech's simple requests.
"Then for what youngling?" Megatron surprised the young mech with this question.
"I... well..." Soundwave stuttered caught off guard with the warlords reply.
"I'm already willing to give you any information about my encounter with Shockwave."
"Encounter?" Soundwave cocked his helm curiously at the former warlord.
"Oh Soundwave, tell me you're not so naive, that you wouldn't think Shockwave would at the very least, attempt to entice me to use his new creations, as a new Decepticon warfare?" Megatron's tone was patronizing, but he knew that the young mech was naive.
"What new creations?" Soundwave asked ignoring the patronizing. "Tell me more about this encounter."
Megatron chuckled dryly, he always admired Soundwave's hunger for information.
"Wait, Shockwave went ahead, on attempting that ridiculous project?!" Starscream gasped interrupting the conversation.
Ravage leapt at Starscream's cell energy barrier with a vicious roar, scaring the seeker away.
"Soundwave, control your beast!" Starscream whimpered backing away from the barrier.
"Why is your new pet, outside our cells?" Megatron questioned the young mech.
"It's pretty self explanatory, he's not trained yet, and is quite ravaging if I am preoccupied." The violet mech explained.
"Hmm... undoubtedly." Megatron nodded remembering the Cyber Feline's earlier slash at him.
"So your encounter with Shockwave, was it recent?" Soundwave redirect the conversation back to the mad scientist.
"Yes, but it was by a fluke, for the most part. I heard the commotion from the explosion you caused to his laboratory. And I don't know what possessed me to investigate it, but I did, and with that, I found Shockwave's energon leak." Megatron began to explain.
"Shockwave bridged out of their how did you..."
"Soundwave, if you allowed me to explain further, I would've covered that." Megatron raised an optic ridge at the young mech, who quickly silenced himself. "Once I realized he bridged out of there, I knew he was operating out of Crystal City."
"And you went searching for him?" Soundwave once again interrupted the warlord.
"In a sense yes, but only so I may gain your trust." The massive mech replied, to Soundwave's confusion.
"Why do you want my trust, are you seeking redemption?" The glowing youngling questioned the former Decepticon warlord.
"Not at all." Megatron answered firmly, continuing to further the youngling's confusion. [I once had your full trust, but I demolished it on my journey to my Decepticon empire.]
Soundwave couldn't recall when he ever trusted his former leader, but the worn down mech was having that thought for some apparent reason. "Why?"
"I only wish to be your ally, whether I am imprisoned or not. My thirst for oppression is abolished, I do not seek redemption, and I except my fate." Megatron replied to Starscream's surprise.
Soundwave could not pull any contradictions from his former leaders mind, Megatron spoke the truth.
"Fine, I believe you." Soundwave sighed, giving up on arguing with his Uncle.
Megatron nodded without commenting, before continuing on about Shockwave. "So eventually Shockwave came across me for the first time since Unicron's invasion. He invited me to join him in his revenge against you."
"Revenge, against me, for what?" Soundwave drew his helm back with a scoff.
"You forget, you were Shockwave's prized project, incapable of turning against your masters. When you turned, I began to diminish any of his scientific endeavours. Demoting him in his mind, and restricting his science, hence why he tried and failed numerously to gain your control." Megatron explained to Soundwave, who was in disbelief. "He did not like my refusal to except his science, but he is not without a master."
"Shockwave truly only has devotion to his science, nothing else, that's his one and only master." Starscream grumbled the truth.
"Did Shockwave show you, or tell anything further about his revenge project?" Soundwave sighed deeply, in disbelief of the scientist's vendetta.
"He did not take me to his laboratory, He came upon me searching the city, while he was gathering a few more pieces of equipment before returning to his hidden laboratory for good. That is where he proposed he could conduct our revenge on the ones who disgraced us the most, and continue the reign of the Decepticons." Megatron shook his helm no, to which Soundwave nodded in understanding. "Shockwave's no longer in Crystal City, he's receded into a never seen before laboratory, for long term, I don't think he will be resurfacing until his project is complete."
"Thank you." The violet young mech deactivated the forcefield door, thanking the warlord for sharing the scientist's information with him.
Megatron watched the young mech walk by him to the outside of cell. "Soundwave wait."
Soundwave halted, turning back to face the massive mech.
"Shockwave's last words were that he would get his revenge, using your intelligence, and your nightmares." Megatron warned the youngling before the forcefield wall reactivated enclosing him in his cell.
Soundwave was glad his visor was covering his fearful face. He signalled with his servo for Ravage to follow him back up to the main floor of the enforcement station.
"Ugh, remind me to grind Jazz's gears, this disorganization is going to send me to the Allspark." Arcee groaned throwing another data pad off to the side.
"Ha, ha, I can catch him for you if he runs from your organization again." Mirage joked with the femme, as Soundwave rounded the corner.
"You were quite a while, were you questioning our prisoners?" Arcee asked her mech as he was walking by seemingly ignoring them. "Soundwave?!"
Soundwave just about passed by the two, until his sparkmate shouted his name. "Sorry, what?"
"What's going on, you seem on edge?" Mirage asked with concern.
"I just received more in depth information on Shockwave..." Soundwave replied, not wanting to really explain the new information in front of his little brother.
"Okay, what did you find out?" Arcee asked to which her mech responded by walking away.
"I will explain later. Mirage, come'on let's go check on Bumblebee." Soundwave called for Mirage to follow.
Mirage shrugged at the equally confused femme, before running after his seemingly panicked brother.
"What information did you gain from Megatron?" Mirage asked jogging up next to his brother.
"I think I got the location of Shockwave's current operations." Soundwave lied to his brother.
"That's it?" Mirage scoffed as they stopped in front of the Oil House.
"What do you mean that's it?" The violet mech retorted. "Mirage, if we locate this base of operations, we can stop Shockwave's madness, and destroy whatever weapons he's created."
"Right, sorry, I just figured Megatron would've given you a little more information then that." The red youngling shrugged.
Soundwave cocked his helm thoughtfully. "Are you joining us on the hunt this time?"
Mirage turned his helm away at that question. "I don't know..."
"Hey guys, come take a look!" Sideswipe burst out of the Oil House doors.
"Uh, well, sure..." Soundwave rolled his optics behind his visor, entering the Oil House with Ravage and Mirage in tow.
"What the frag is that?!" Sunstreaker gasped at the feline minicon.
"Ravage!" Bumblebee giggled as the feline excitedly greeted him.
"Another pet minicon?" Sunstreaker scoffed at the violet young mech.
"Ravage is another minicon, yes." Soundwave sighed, scanning the nicely furnished bar. "Nice job you've all done."
"Thanks, it's a work in progress, but it'll be a pretty awesome hang out once it's all finished." Sideswipe said with a smile.
Soundwave gave a small nod in agreement, before going off into thought about the Shockwave's threats on his helm.
"You look tired little dude." Sunstreaker patted Mirage's back, making the youngling jump.
"I haven't really been recharging that well... but my frame can handle no recharging." Mirage shrugged, getting a glare from his older brother.
The violet mech narrowed his optics behind his visor, realizing his brother must've been plagued with worsening nightmares.
All bots in the bar turned their helms to the entrance when the sound of a motorcycle engine came within earshot.
Arcee transformed entering Maccadam's. "Wow, this place is starting to look great."
"Thanks, see we're capable of hard work." Sunstreaker scoffed at the femme.
"I know you two are capable, it's a matter of lighting a fire under your aft, to motivate you to do it." The cobalt blue femme retorted back at the golden twin. "So mister rush off, what's going on, you want to explain why you rushed out of the station like it was on fire?" Arcee turned to her masked sparkmate.
"Oooh, Soundwave's in trouble." The twins teased the young mech.
Soundwave rolled his optics behind his visor. "Sorry, I just gained information about Shockwave, and needed a moment to think." He apologized to his sparkmate.
"So what's going on then, we've been tracking him for some time now, what information did you obtain from Megatron?" Arcee asked almost impatiently.
"Soundwave said he found out where Shockwave is." Mirage answered before his brother could.
"Okay where is he, let's get a team ready." The femme replied.
"Well no I don't know exactly..." Soundwave sheepishly said knowing his brother would question why he lied.
"What do you mean, you said you knew?" Mirage hissed.
Soundwave shook his helm at his little brother. "No, I said I think I know, doesn't mean it was a confirmed answer. But we were close when we were searching last time, Shockwave seems to be most active in Crystal City." The young mech turned to the femme, continuing to lie, as the former warlord told him Shockwave was no longer there.
"Fine, shall we continue our search then?" Arcee asked with a sigh, she could tell her mech was holding secrets.
The glowing mech exhaled deeply. "No, I will send another team, let your mother and the others settle in."
"And what about you?" Arcee raised an optic ridge at her mech.
"I have to get that space bridge up and running, so returning Cybertronians have a way home." Soundwave replied exiting the bar.
Arcee shook her helm with a groan. "He's hiding something from us."
"Well, duh." Mirage snorted folding his arms. "So how are we going to get the truth out of him, we can't read his mind?"
"We're going to talk to Megatron." Arcee replied leaving the bar as well.
Mirage gave a sheepish smile to the twins and Bee, before following his guardian out of the bar. "Wait you want to talk to Megatron, do you think he's going to give you the same answers he gave Soundwave?"
"Perhaps not, but even the slightest bit of information will help me understand what the frag is going on." The femme said upon entering the enforcement station.
"I think, you'd get more answers from Soundwave, if you tried hard enough." Mirage scoffed stopping at the top of the staircase to the brig.
"You can grind him down if you want, but I am going straight to the source." Arcee said as she descended the stairs.
Megatron barely raised his helm to look at the femme standing in front of his cell. "Arcee, it's been a while."
"Not long enough." The femme scoffed, glaring at the nosey seeker. "I want to know what you told Soundwave."
"I told him what he needed to know. I told him that Shockwave approached me with a proposal to join him in his revenge on Soundwave, which I refused, as I do not seek to cause unnecessary harm any longer." Megatron truthfully replied to the questioning femme.
"Revenge on Soundwave, why Soundwave, and not both him and Mirage?" Arcee asked confused by the former warlord's explanation.
"Because Mirage escaped and was raised by the Autobots, taking his betrayal was natural as he never completed the training program, which Soundwave did, becoming the most feared weapon in our army. Soundwave's betrayal to the Decepticons, was Shockwave's complete humiliation, proving his science is flawed, and always a failure." The massive mech hissed, agreeing with his own explanation that the scientist was failed. "Shockwave is in the midst of beginning his revenge project, he's been collecting his resources, while throwing you Autobots off with decoy laboratory visits."
"Thank you, for informing me..." Arcee quickly exited the brig.
Mirage didn't like the look of concern when the femme emerged from the staircase. "What's really going on?"
"Soundwave's in danger." The femme vaguely replied, rushing past the youngling.
"Right now?" Mirage asked chasing after the femme.
Arcee slowed her pace once they were on the streets. "Well no, not exactly at this second, but soon enough that we should begin to worry."
"Okay, well what exactly is making this danger, Shockwave?" The red youngling asked walking next to the femme.
"Yes, of course!" Arcee hissed at the red youngling.
"Uuuh, alright, what is Shockwave doing?" Mirage continued to ask the panicked femme.
"I don't, know..." The femme replied, realizing she hadn't asked the warlord.
Mirage sighed with an optic roll. "When's this so called danger happening?"
"I don't know Mirage!" Arcee hissed at the annoying youngling.
"Then why are you panicking?!" Mirage hissed back at his guardian.
"Because I don't want Soundwave to go offline, Mirage." The femme admitted her fears about the scientist's revenge threat.
Mirage visibly humbled himself, understanding his guardian's fear for his brother's life. "He's not going to go offline Cee. But we need a little more information then a threat."
"Well let's go find the mech with the answers." Arcee replied to the youngling's good point.
Mirage followed the cobalt blue motorcycle to the space bridge station just outside of Iacon. "Truthfully I don't think Soundwave knows much either, that's why he seems just as panicked."
"Or he knows too much for his own good." Arcee transformed walking over to her busy mech.
Soundwave had his tentacles deployed busily repairing one control panel each, while he worked on the main control grid.
"Primus, I envy your ability to multitask like that." Mirage commented on the violet mech's ability to multitask.
"No you don't, because if you did, you'd help clean up your stuff around the house more often." Soundwave stood up retracting his tentacles back into his torso.
"Ah, ha, yeah..." The youngling laughed sarcastically.
"What's the matter?" Soundwave asked, picking up on his sparkmate's angst.
"You tell me, what's this about Shockwave's revenge on you?" Arcee retorted, done with beating around the scrapheap.
"You spoke with Megatron." The violet mech thought aloud.
"Yes, and he said Shockwave's beginning his revenge project on you?" The upset femme continued to question her sparkmate.
(I said I would speak about this later, Arcee. Not in front of Mirage, he's already on edge, and upset about his unresolved issues. I don't need him to worry about something that may, or may not, happen.)
Arcee read the text message sent from the mech she was arguing with. She nodded in acknowledgement, with a heavy sigh. "All I'm saying is we should put more efforts into hunting that sicko down, before he can exact his revenge."
"I agree, I have finished my repairs on this bridge, all I need is the energon to fuel it." Soundwave replied gesturing to the space bridge. "Mirage, can you find Bumblebee, and get a small mining crew to collect energon for the space bridge. While I conduct a hunting party for Shockwave?"
Mirage nodded, thankful his brother was not making him guard Megatron, or chase after Shockwave, and his abominations.
Both Arcee and Soundwave watched the red youngling transform, hesitant to drive away from them.
"Everything alright?" Soundwave asked the unmoving sports car.
"Earlier Mirage did not want to drive anywhere without company. Maybe just give him a bridge." Arcee whispered to her sparkmate.
"Here this will be faster." Soundwave casually opened a ground bridge for his hesitant brother.
"Thanks." Mirage replied, calmly driving into the bridge.
As soon as the green swirling portal closed, the cobalt blue femme glared at her masked mech. "So do you want to explain to me, what's really going on with this vendetta?"
Soundwave rolled his optics behind his visor. "Honestly, it's really not worth even mentioning, because we'll find Shockwave before he even has the chance to ignite his revenge scheme." He was speaking hopefully, but Soundwave knew they would have difficulties finding the mad scientist.
"Don't play, I want the truth Soundwave. It certainly seemed like it was a big deal, when you were in a panic, exiting the station earlier today." Arcee furrowed her optic ridges at her mech.
Soundwave sighed deeply, tired of this conversation. "Look, you probably know as much as I do, which is basically nothing. Megatron only told me that Shockwave has it out for me, and is seeking revenge. Shockwave's little operations in his laboratories, that are scattered across the planet, are just decoys. To prevent us from finding his main base of operations."
"Which is where his revenge project is." Arcee thought aloud. "Do we even know what his project is?"
"No, not exactly..." Soundwave replied trying to avoid answering truthfully.
Arcee groaned in frustration, getting fed up with her mech hiding the truth from her. "Soundwave, tell me what you know, stop hiding things from me."
"I seriously don't know Arcee, all Megatron told me, was that Shockwave's attempting to use my own intelligence against me. And the title of the files I discovered were D-34-X." Soundwave argued, getting frustrated, he didn't understand the project either, all he knew was the title of the project files.
"What does that mean?" The femme scoffed, trying to figure out how the scientist could use her mech's intelligence against him.
"With more findings, and the capture of Shockwave, you can get all the answers you want." Soundwave replied walking away from the space bridge.
Arcee quickly got her mech's point, following him down the street. "Alright, I will stop bugging you about this vendetta, for now. Let's organize a team first."
"I already sent out a message, the team is waiting in Iacon." Soundwave said opening a bridge for them to quickly get to Iacon.
"Ratchet, I am surprised that you want to hunt down Shockwave." Arcee greeted the old medic standing with the team.
"I'm more than happy to help, I saw the aftermath of the last time these two went after Shockwave. It won't hurt to have a medic tag along." The ancient mech replied to the femme.
"What if someone needs medical assistance here?" Sideswipe asked.
"Knockout is staying behind, he's a great medic, I'm not worried." Ratchet replied to the silver twin.
"Mirage, you're joining us?" Soundwave cocked his helm curiously at his younger brother.
"Yes, Bumblebee is with Jazz, getting the energon for the space bridge." Mirage nodded with a small smile.
Soundwave smiled behind his visor, proud his brother was joining them.
"Shall we get going?" Arcee suggested to the small team.
Soundwave nodded creating a bridge to Crystal City, allowing the others to go through first. He knew the search was pointless, not being very hopeful about finding the scientist, judging by the way Megatron was explaining Shockwave's plans and whereabouts. If Shockwave did not bring Megatron, his trusted former friend, and leader, to his main operational laboratory. Shockwave was well hidden, and well organized, which increased the possibility of returning Decepticons to join him, especially ones who were as equally dedicated to science, as he was. Which would mean they would retaliate against the Autobots, to reclaim the newly rejuvenated planet. Which increased Soundwave's fear of another war breaking out.