As a stellar cycle since the rejuvenation of Cybertron, passed by. The planet had begun to prosper in small ways, as more returning Cybertronians came through the space bridge, Soundwave rebuilt. They all assisted with rebuilding their homes, and planet essentials, making the planet a bit more lively once more. Most returning citizens were Autobots, and labourers, neutral bots that fled Cybertron when the war erupted. They were mostly focused on rebuilding their planet, instead of assisting with capturing of returning offending Decepticons, or joining the Cybertronian police. All of which had pushed hunting for fugitives, specifically Shockwave, to the back burner.
Arcee was not thrilled to be climbing a building that was under construction, stepping onto a metal sheet, bolted by a few metal struts, overlooking most of Iacon's outskirts. Taking a deep breath, before approaching her sparkmate, who stood on the edge, observing the space bridge station. "Soundwave?"
The violet young mech looked over his shoulder, surprised to see his femme approaching him. "Arcee, how'd you get up here?"
"I scaled the building, Mirage mentioned you were up here." Arcee replied simply. "By the way, not an easy climb."
Soundwave smirked with a muffled chuckle. "I would imagine." Turning his gaze back towards the space bridge station.
"You're worried, it's understandable. It's been a whole stellar cycle without hearing or seeing Shockwave. Do you think, perhaps he knew of the space bridge, and left?" The cobalt blue femme questioned the observant mech.
Soundwave shook his helm no. "Possibly, when I first had it running. But highly unlikely, given the motives behind his current science project."
"Look, I know it's been a little hectic, and unpredictable in the last few quartexs, with returning citizens..."
Soundwave groaned in irritation, rolling his optics to which his sparkmate smacked him for. "Ow, what?!"
"Look, I know most of them were neutrals that fled the war, with the exception of the other half being Autobots, who do know who you were. I understand it hasn't made your lifecycle any easier..."
"Do you think there's enough bodies covering the security, and monitoring of the space bridge?" Soundwave thought aloud, interrupting his femme.
"I believe so, I mean it's been a little difficult to police both Cybertron, and the space bridge, with such a small squadron of enforcement officers. It's not enough." Arcee unfortunately replied, she was having a difficult time running the enforcement academy, and police at the same time. "Maybe you could convince some bots to volunteer..."
The young mech sighed in response to his femme asking for help. "Arcee, I don't want to force anyone to do something they don't feel comfortable with. Plus most of the bots that would possibly volunteer, are Autobot's that hate me, and have no reason to respect me."
Arcee frowned disappointed in her mech. "Then, you're going to continue to stand here, and wonder if Decepticons are coming through that bridge undetected."
Soundwave turned his helm away, staring at the space bridge being guarded by two mechs. Arcee was right, he needed to help engage others with keeping the peace on Cybertron.
The cobalt blue femme exhaled, feeling bad for snapping at her sparkmate. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap like that. It's been a whole stellar cycle, I am just frustrated with how little assistance I am getting."
"You're right though..." Soundwave replied turning his gaze to his sparkmate.
Arcee looked up into her mech's mixed coloured optics. "A whole stellar cycle, and you still can't except the fact that you not only reanimated our home world, but led us to where we are now."
"And I will continue to deny my leadership, as I am merely a guide, assisting with keeping the peace prospering on our planet." The violet mech smiled at his sparkmate, who rolled her optics.
"Fine, then help guide, others towards helping enforce that peace." Arcee retorted, turning around to descend the building.
Soundwave chuckled with a smirk, watching his femme curse, as she attempted to find the right angle to climb down. "Would you like a ground bridge?" He held out a servo to assist his sparkmate back onto the platform.
"Do you have to ask?" Arcee sarcastically replied, taking the helping servo. "So does that mean you're going to help get recruits?"
"Yes, I am going to help..." Soundwave sighed, opening a ground bridge.
"Why'd you answer like that?" Arcee scoffed, following her sparkmate into the bridge.
"Well first I need some advice, on how to capture a judgmental audience." The young mech replied as they entered the enforcement station.
"Well Ratchet is across the street." Arcee gestured to the entrance.
"Not from an Autobot..." Soundwave replied, looking over at the door that led to Megatron's prison cell.
"Him, Soundwave are you trying to seem less like a Decepticon, or not?" The cobalt blue femme shook her helm in disbelief.
"Thanks for seeing me as a Decepticon still..." Soundwave glared at his appalled sparkmate. "Before Megatron was a Decepticon, he was known for capturing judgmental audiences, enough to gain a large following."
"Sorry, but Megatron captured his audience through violence in the gladiatorial pits, and that large following became a violent cult, called the Decepticons." Arcee pointed out to her mech's disliking.
Soundwave gave his femme a disappointed gaze. "How would you know, you didn't spend time with him in the beginning? Before Megatron got corrupted by power and jealousy, you didn't think he cared? Why else would he have captured Optimus as one of his followers?" The violet mech retorted, leaving through the staircase entrance.
Arcee cringed at herself, forgetting that Optimus Prime, had once befriended Megatron. "Soundwave..."
"Arcee, we could use your help, some of the bots are confused as to who's going where, on the shift change?" Jazz called over the femme's comlink.
"Frag, I'm on my way." Arcee groaned in annoyance, giving on more look towards the door her mech disappeared through, before exiting the station.
Soundwave entered the hallway containing cells that held Decepticon war criminals, many of them hoping to convince him to release them from their prison.
"Soundwave, hey, come'on let us out. We could easily take down the Autobots, and take Cybertron back." A black and white mech attempted to persuade Soundwave, as the young mech passed by his cell.
"Don't waste your voice Barricade." Starscream scoffed at the black and white mech. "Soundwave's following in Prime's footsteps, he's all about the justice system, and keeping the peace." The seeker glared at Soundwave as he passed by his cell.
"That's stupid..." Barricade snorted leaning back against the wall.
"Well to be honest, it can't be any dumber than you are, Barricade. Did Mirage politely ask you to get in that cell, and you jumped right in? Or did you actually put up a struggle?" The seeker's venomous sarcasm enraged Barricade.
"Shut the hell up Starscream, if I recall, you were in here, long before me!" Barricade hissed at the seeker in the next cell.
"So you do know how to count, hmm?" Starscream smirked as Soundwave shook his helm at him.
A sparking forcefield generator caught Soundwave's optic, taking note that the empty cell across from Megatron was malfunctioning.
"Those two are maddening..." Megatron grumbled as Soundwave entered his cell.
"Undoubtedly." Soundwave scoffed, agreeing with his former leader.
"I wasn't expecting to see you down here so late. Your brother sure has been bringing in a few prizes." Megatron commented on the young mech that entered his prison cell.
"Y-yes..." Soundwave shook his helm after his voice box glitched.
"What was that?" The grey mech raised an optic ridge at his nephew.
"Nothing, just a malfunction." The violet young mech replied with a shrug. "Yes, Mirage has certainly put his fears away, dedicating his time to hunting down Decepticons that refuse to live peacefully." Soundwave replied, shutting the cell with the forcefield.
"Hmm... he's protecting you." Megatron thought aloud.
Soundwave cocked his helm curiously. "What do you mean?"
"It's very obvious youngling. Mirage is hunting Decepticon criminals, one, by one, until he finally comes across his true target. Shockwave." The grey mech explained to the young mech.
"I didn't realize..." The violet mech thought aloud.
"So what brings you down here so late, you've never been so tardy for our visits." The former leader smirked at the usually punctual young mech.
Soundwave looked around, seeing the many other prisoners watching him. "I was busy going over some flaws, I need to reorganize our security on the space bridge. But I came here to seek advice."
"You came to seek advice from me? How unexpected, I'm flattered." Megatron scoffed sarcastically.
"Uhuh... yeah, it was an argument getting here, but here I am, seeking advice from my former leader." Soundwave nervously replied with a scoff.
Megatron raised an optic ridge at the violet youngling. "I'm sure many Autobots are opposed to your very presence, let alone leadership, you don't have to act coy around me."
"I just need help capturing their attention, and getting the citizens to help when I ask, without them hating me on sight. I don't want to lead them, I just want to guide them..." Soundwave stopped speaking when Megatron gave him an unconvinced glare.
"Soundwave, stop denying what you are. If you want others to follow your... guidance..." Megatron rolled his optics at saying guidance.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked..." Soundwave blinked when a large servo was stuck in his face, silencing him.
Megatron lowered his servo once the young mech gave his full attention. "You need to make your presence confident, as a leader should be. Now my mistake was being confidently forceful with my leadership. Yes, I gained a large following from the lost souls that were the slaves of Cybertron, with nothing to lose. While the higher caste members laughed, and threw hatred towards my presence. But I became a tyrant, trying to force the higher caste to except all my views, and my leadership. Instead of capturing the sparks, and minds of all Cybertronians, like Optimus Prime did."
Soundwave turned away mournfully, he truly missed Optimus's leadership.
Megatron sighed, he could tell Soundwave deeply missed the Prime. "You were Optimus Prime's apprentice."
"I haven't heard that since we fought off Unicron." Soundwave scoffed. "I was his apprentice, but that was merely just a title."
"Yes, but a title with a purpose, Optimus saw something in you, that I saw as well, and unfortunately loathed entirely, if we're being honest." Megatron scoffed with a sigh. "Unknown to you, you did have a small following within my Decepticon army, without even trying."
"I appreciate your honesty." Soundwave raised an optic ridge at his former leader. "I had a following when I was a Decepticon?"
The massive mech smirked at the modest youngling. "Indeed you did, Knockout was one of your firsts. Along with most of the Eradicons, after your gracious acts of kindness towards them were mentioned throughout the warship. It seems you weren't spying on everyone as good as you thought."
Soundwave was silent, he knew the Eradicons appreciated what he did for them, he did not think they would be that dedicated to him while still under Megatron's command. "That would explain why very few, if any, Eradicons retaliated against us when we took over the warship."
"Exactly." Megatron nodded with a wondering gaze. "So my advice to you, is to be confident, assert yourself a bit. Nobody's going to follow a bot that's not confident with themselves, they'll take advantage of you if they know you're easily crushed by their hatred." The massive grey mech said, gently escorting Soundwave towards the cells exit. "Don't let them have the satisfaction of tearing your voice box out."
The young mech deactivated the forcefield wall that was the only way out of the former warlord's cell. "Wait that's it, be assertive, that's all you're going to tell me?" Soundwave retorted confused, he figured there was more to it then that.
Megatron chuckled dryly, still standing in his cell. "That is all I can advise, youngling." He smiled as the forcefield activated, locking him in his cell. [The rest will be natural to you, I promise.]
Soundwave nodded with an uncertain smile, hearing Megatron's thoughts, before leaving the ground prison cells. [Okay... time to talk to Autobots I never knew, let's do that...] the young mech nervously thought to himself, as Mirage entered the station with another irate Decepticon criminal, with Arcee in tow.
"You Autobot's are scum, I refuse to believe that Megatron denounced the Decepticons!" A beige mech screamed, thrashing about trying to break his restraints.
"Well you better start believing, because there's an empty cell straight across from Megatron, with your name on it." Mirage scoffed with a smirk, shoving the mech towards the staircase entrance Soundwave exited out of.
The beige mech smirked upon seeing the familiar violet mech emerge from the staircase entrance. "Well you're screwed now, nothing can keep Soundwave in a prison cell, you fucked up!"
Both Arcee and Mirage laughed at the struggling mech. "Hey Soundwave, did you want to open the door so I can throw this one in the brig?" Mirage called out to his brother.
Soundwave nodded, activating the door, stepping off to the side. "Don't put him in the glitchy cell across from Megatron, the forcefield wall is malfunctioning, I'm going to repair it later."
"You have to be kidding me, Soundwave!" The raging mech lunged at the violet mech who did not move an inch.
"It's been a very long time Bonecrusher." Soundwave calmly greeted the angry mech that tried to lash out at him.
"Fuck you, traitor, you're just as weak as Prime!" Bonecrusher hissed as he was forced down the staircase.
Arcee cringed shutting the door behind Mirage. "Old friend of yours?"
Soundwave shook his helm with a laugh. "Nn-ot in the slightest. That there is a Decep-ti-con, that is fuelled by nothing but hate. I'm surprised Mirage caught him without losing a limb."
"Could've fooled me." Arcee sarcastically replied, cocking an optic ridge at her mech's glitch, while Mirage came back up.
"That bot is not a Decepticon, he is the spawn of Unicron." Mirage exhaled, shutting the door to the staircase, so they didn't have to listen to the raging screams coming from Bonecrusher.
"Bonecru-sher...is not e-ven... one of the worsts." Soundwave replied, trying to hide his glitching voice, while following the two out of the enforcement station.
Arcee glared suspiciously at her glitching mech. "When's the last time you had maintenance on your voice box, you haven't even been taking that serum to prevent your flareups have you?"
"Let's not focus on that now." Soundwave regained his usual distorted voice, brushing off his femme's inquiry. "There's a lot of dangerous Decepticons to worry about."
"You're telling me, I just got word from one of the Eradicons, saying there's this psycho Decepticon femme that snuck onto Cybertron, and that she's a force to be reckoned with." Mirage mentioned, gaining both Arcee and Soundwave's concerned attention.
"Mirage, what's her name?" Soundwave asked curiously, wondering if Slipstream found her way back, or Airachnid wasn't really offline.
"I don't really remember, something to do with war, or fire?" Mirage shrugged getting a sharp glare from Arcee, as they exited the station.
"Are you just making a joke about my creator, Firestar?" Arcee raised an optic ridge at the youngling.
"No, Cee, I am being serious." Mirage replied honestly.
"Soundwave?" Arcee looked at her mech, to see if he knew who Mirage was speaking of.
"I'm not sure, it could be a few different femmes. If you see her, send me a picture of her, Mirage." Soundwave shrugged, halting himself. "Give me a moment, I'll catch up." He said materializing his visor, to filter through the database of Decepticon femmes.
Both Arcee and Mirage shrugged continuing on, allowing Soundwave a moment to think as they entered the busy streets. "You've got to promise to be careful, the Decepticons you're bringing in are getting more vicious. I'm glad you regained your ability to go after the most dangerous Cons. But we don't want to lose you again."
"I promise Arcee..." Mirage nodded in understanding, trying to keep next to his guardian as they passed by many other bots wondering the streets. "You know I liked it a whole lot better when it was just us on this planet." The youngling grumbled as he got bumped by a couple passerby's.
Arcee chuckled, waiting for the youngling to catch up to her. "You wanted to see Cybertron when it was full of life, this is just the half of it." She replied taking the youngling's servo.
Mirage wriggled his servo out of his guardian's. "I don't need you to hold my servo, I am capable of navigating through this stupid crowd!"
"Fine, but if you lose me in the crowd, don't blame me." Arcee laughed at the grumpy youngling, turning to see Soundwave entering the busy streets.
Mirage observed the crowd parting, giving Soundwave a large enough pathway to walk through. "How come they get out of his way?"
Arcee frowned with a deep sigh. "That's called a prejudice crowd."
"What, you're saying all these bots, know who Soundwave was, and what he did?" The red youngling scoffed.
"Well, we did send out galactic warnings, about the most dangerous Decepticons, during the war. It would've gotten to every possible Cybertronian, so I'm sure they know enough." Arcee explained as Soundwave continued towards them.
Soundwave could feel all the optics on him, as many Cybertronian citizens quickly gave him a wide berth. It was nerve racking, he didn't dare activate his mind reading abilities.
"So did you figure out who the Con is?" Arcee casually greeted her paranoid mech.
"Me." Soundwave grumbled, as all optics continued to stick on him. "And no, no I didn't."
"Soundwave, come'on let's keep going." Arcee groaned gesturing with her helm.
"Maybe you should make sure Wave doesn't get lost in the crowd. Make it easier for everyone around." Mirage told Arcee, who was confused at first.
"Lost in the crowd?" Arcee cocked her helm curiously at the youngling.
Mirage rolled his optics with a groan, gesturing for the femme to take hold of Soundwave's servo.
"Ooh..." Arcee nodded in understanding, as Mirage began to walk slightly ahead.
Soundwave continued to watch the strangers that stared at him. Specifically a black and red femme, her blood red optics burning right through him, as his spark began to rapidly beat. The young mech visibly jumped, when he felt a gentle servo grasp his slender one.
"Come'on, let's go find Ironhide, and Ratchet." Arcee redirected her sparkmate's attention, calmly leading her mech down the street.
Both Arcee, and Mirage, felt Soundwave's spark ease, a small amount. But they could tell he was incredibly tense, and paranoid. Once they entered the medical facility, Soundwave's angst began to simmer.
"Hi, do you have an appointment?" All three were greeted by the bubbly yellow youngling.
"No Bee, we need to talk to Ratchet." Arcee replied with a smile.
"Okay, I'll take you to his office." Bumblebee replied, leading his family to the ancient medic.
"You're enjoying the job huh?" Mirage commented on his proud little brother.
"Yeah, it's great, I'm meeting a lot of new bots, with so many cool stories." Bumblebee replied, knocking on Ratchet's office door.
"Enter!" Ratchet called from the other side of the door.
As the door swished open Bumblebee gestured for others to enter the office first.
"Soundwave, Arcee, and Mirage. How nice of you to stop by, without injuries it seems." Knockout greeted the three.
"Hey Knockout, it's a pleasure to see you to?" Mirage replied, surprised at himself for being the first to reply to the fancy medic.
"Hey Bumblebee, could you help me polish some of my tools. I've been doing quite a bit of cosmetic surgery, and have fallen behind." Knockout walked towards the office door.
"Okay, see you guys later." Bumblebee happily followed the fancy medic out of Ratchet's office.
"Alright, well since none of you are injured, are you here for a checkup. I know you two haven't bothered since we defeated Unicron." Ratchet pointed at the mutant brothers.
"We're fine, Ratch." Mirage groaned with an optic roll.
"You always say that. Just because you two are able to recover from horrible injuries, doesn't mean you shouldn't get checkups." Ratchet retorted to the youngling. "Especially you Soundwave, you're way overdue for maintenance on your voi..."
"Ratchet, we actually just need your help with something." Soundwave interrupted the medic.
"Okay, what did you need help with?" Ratchet asked, turning to Arcee, who shook her helm at her mech for avoiding the medics offer to maintain his voice box issue.
"Soundwave's going to try and convince some of Cybertron's citizens to join the Cybertronian police force, as I am struggling with my dwindling squadron. We can't keep up with the new Decepticons that refuse the offer to live peacefully." Arcee explained.
"Yeah, and more Cons are sneaking past our security, which there's minimal security." Mirage added.
"I just said that." Arcee sighed. "So if you could be there when Soundwave speaks, it would be helpful for you to show that you support him." The femme said to the medic who nodded in understanding.
"Yes of course. I guess Knockout can take over for me." The red and white medic shrugged, following the three out of his office.
"There see, we're not going to put you up in front of everyone without some support." Arcee gave her mech's servo a gentle squeeze.
Soundwave nodded clearing static in his throat. "Thanks Ratchet, I appreciate you doing this."
"Hey it gives me a break, I don't mind." Ratchet shrugged, as they got onto the busy streets.
"You know, I'm surprised that Ironhide has continued to supervise the construction." Mirage thought aloud, watching the large weapon specialist move a huge beam.
"Well he won't admit it, but he actually enjoys construction, he likes to prove his strength." Ratchet retorted as the large mech noticed them.
"Hey what's this, a medical field trip?" Ironhide greeted the small group.
"No, we've... Wait, a medical field trip, at a construction site?" Arcee cocked an optic ridge.
"Yeah, do you have any idea, how many bots get injured here." Ironhide retorted to the femme, to which the medic nodded in agreement.
Arcee rolled her optics with a groan. "Well that's not what we're here for. We were wondering if you could accompany Soundwave, he's going to make an announcement, to try and recruit more enforcement officers."
"I will happily accompany you Soundwave. There's too many damn Decepticons sneaking through that space bridge." Ironhide agreed to help Soundwave with his announcement.
"Okay, great, let's get this over with." Mirage impatiently said, gesturing for the rest to start heading towards the newly rebuilt Iacon Hall Of Records.
"No, no, can't I just send a message through the public monitors!" Soundwave panicked, as they closed in on the Hall Of Records.
"Yes, you can do that, while you're doing an in person PSA." Ratchet replied, guiding the nervous young mech up the stairs.
"Wow, there's a lot of bots gathered here." Mirage thought aloud as they reached the top of the stairs to the building.
"Trust me, I told as many of my officers to pass along that there was a PSA to be announced later this solar cycle." Arcee said to the red youngling, before turning to her masked mech. "Are you ready?"
[Be assertive...] Soundwave nodded exhaling deeply before cuing the audio visual on the public monitors.
As soon as Soundwave appeared on the screens, an uneasy atmosphere arose, followed by a spreading panic.
"What's happening!?"
"Are the Decepticons taking over Cybertron!?"
"I thought Soundwave was an Autobot!?"
"No, no, everyone calm down!" Arcee shouted gaining everyone's attention. "Soundwave is still an Autobot, there's no need to panic."
"I find that hard to believe." A familiar Autobot flyer said aloud, causing the crowd to whisper among themselves.
"Who the hell allowed that bastard back on the planet?" Ironhide scoffed to Ratchet who shook his helm at the flyer.
"You idiots just saw Soundwave walk down the street, so bolt your mouth shut, Air Can! Everyone calm yourselves, Soundwave's just making an announcement..." Mirage yelled at the uneasy crowd and his nemesis aerial bot.
"Mirage, no!" Arcee hissed at the youngling. "Soundwave, start talking." She gestured for her mech to start addressing the crowd.
Soundwave cleared the static build up in his voice box, before addressing the worried Cybertronians. "Citizens of Cybertron, I am addressing you this solar cycle, because we have had an increase of Decepticon activity, due to there not being enough enforcement officers." The violet mech looked over his shoulder to see his sparkmate, who nodded at him with an encouraging smile. "We've been doing our best to keep all Decepticons who refuse to surrender peacefully, contained. Unfortunately there's not enough security at the space bridge, and with the lack of security, returning war criminals are easily entering Cybertron."
"How are there more Decepticons, if it's so difficult finding access to a space bridge not located on Cybertron?" A yellow and blue mech asked from the front of the crowd.
"Well, the ancients used sp-ace... bridges to explore vast galaxies, so there are many space bridges scattered across the uni-verse..." Soundwave coughed in pain as his voice box malfunctioned.
Ratchet narrowed his optics suspiciously at the young mech's glitch. "Soundwave's voice box is malfunctioning." He whispered to the weapon specialist.
"Not great, hopefully it lasts long enough so he can make his point." Ironhide cringed at his friend's observation.
"Spare us the history lesson Soundwave. The Decepticons have easy access to Cybertron, because they have access to another space bridge. One that's not being guarded by the Cybertronian police." Air Raid said turning the crowds attention to him.
"There's only one active space bridge on Cybertron at this time, and we monitor any bridging activity, that would be impossible." Arcee replied to the suspicious Air Commander.
"Is that so?" Air Raid folded his arms with a smirk. "Hey Soundwave, you're a product of Shockwave's Decepticon science. A super soldier with mutant abilities, right?"
"I think we are getting off the sub-ject..." Soundwave attempted to redirect the subject to policing.
"Hey, don't you have the ability to create space bridges, whenever you please?" Air Raid called out, making the crowd loudly chatter in a frightened manner.
"There it is..." Ironhide dropped his helm with a sigh.
[Be assertive, nobody's going to follow going to follow a bot that's not confident with themselves.] Soundwave reminded himself of what Megatron advised him. "Air Raid, you are go-ing... to be re-moved... if you keep interfering with this PSA!" The young mech hissed sternly.
"Are you going to be able to finish this PSA?" Air Raid laughed at Soundwave's voice glitch. "You kind of have to have a voice to be able to announce your Decepticon PSA." The mech scoffed, before a couple of large enforcement officers forcefully grabbed him, escorting him away. "Hey, get your servos off me!"
"Thanks Jazz." Arcee thanked the waving grey mech, over the comlink.
"Listen, yes I can create bridge por-tals. But I have not used a sp-ace... bridge since Unicron's defeat, and I can s-end.. you all my recent bridging data, if needed." The violet young mech struggled to talk to the citizens.
"Given that you were trusted by Optimus Prime himself, enough to become his apprentice, we trust your word Soundwave. Please continue on the subject of policing a peaceful Cybertron, and keeping the Decepticon activity to a minimum." Ratchet said directing his voice to the crowd, giving the violet young mech a pat on the shoulder.
"Ummm... tha-nk... you Ratchet." Soundwave cycled his vents deeply, before continuing, once again clearing the static out of his voice box. "We do need volunteers to assist with the space bridge security. If you want Cybertron to continue to prosper peacefully, please if you're able to dedicate yourself to preventing war. Please join the enforcement academy, to help us continue to keep the peace. Thank you, th-at... is all." The violet young mech quickly exited off the staircase, to go cough violently.
Ironhide followed the others off the staircase, while the crowd of citizens talked amongst each other. "Well that was..."
"Underwhelming?" Mirage thought aloud.
"Well, yeah." Ironhide shrugged to which both Arcee and Ratchet stared daggers at him.
"The presentation itself might not have gone as planned, but I think we'll get a few new recruits for the academy." Arcee said hopefully.
"I hope it all works out." Ratchet said emotionlessly, as he approached the young mech.
Soundwave's cooling fans whirred loudly, as his vents cycled harshly, trying to recover from the violent flare up from his malfunctioning voice box. Visibly jumping after a servo was placed on his back.
"I have you booked in for tonight, don't be late." Ratchet said, handing the young mech a data chip with an appointment at the medical facility.
Soundwave exhaled with a nod. "Tha-nks..."
"You did good up there, I think you definitely captured the attention of Cybertronians." Ratchet gave Soundwave a pat on the back before walking off with Ironhide. "And don't overdo yourself, you'll only worsen what's left of your voice box."
"Ratchet's not wrong, I think you handled it well." Arcee smiled at her sparkmate.
"Yeah it was all fine, until Air Raid opened his big mouth." Mirage scoffed following his guardian's down the street.
"It probably wouldn't have escalated that far if you didn't open your big mouth." Arcee retorted at the red youngling.
"I can't help it, he's such a jerk." Mirage smiled sheepishly with a shrug, as they made their way towards the enforcement station.
"Speaking of Air Raid, I guess I should go let that moron off with a warning, this time." Arcee sighed, on the brink of wanting to lock Air Raid up for good.
"Yeah, and I'll go continue to hunt down those Decepticons Soundwave keeps transporting here." Mirage sarcastically joked.
"Hilarious, don't for-get.. to pi-ck-up... Bumblebee, before da-rk..." Soundwave coughed, shaking his helm at his sarcastic brother.
"You have an appointment to repair that glitch of yours, why can't you pickup Bee on the way back home?" Mirage replied to his brother.
"Fine, what-ever... be home be-fore.. dark please." Soundwave sighed, stopping in front of the enforcement station entrance.
"Why, because I'm not highly visible, and don't glow in the dark like you do? You do know I have the ability to turn invisible?" Mirage continued to be a sarcastic jokester.
"Beat it, be home before dark!" Arcee shoed the youngling away.
"It's always amusing when he shows his age." The femme laughed entering the station with her sparkmate. "Whoa." Both Arcee, and Soundwave were shocked to see a lineup of mechs and femmes signing up for recruitment.
Arcee smiled up at her mech. "See, you reached out, and gained results."
"I'm still not tru-sted... but, I am hap-py... to help you out." Soundwave sighed, walking over to the staircase to the underground prison cells.
"You'll be a trusted leader with time." Arcee replied moving towards the lineup. "You go have your visit. I'm going to deal with Air Can, and help Jazz sign these bots up for the academy, then we'll leave for your procedure." The femme gave her mech a quick hug before parting ways.
"This is ridiculous, I'm going to break out of here, and destroy all Autobots!" Soundwave could hear the newest inmate scream as he descended the stairs.
"You, you destroyed Lord Megatron's will to fight!" Bonecrusher smashed his fists against the forcefield wall that enclosed his cell, making it flash.
Megatron scowled at the loud mech across from him, disliking that comment about him losing his fighting spirit.
Soundwave rolled his optics behind his visor, as he deactivated the forcefield wall that enclosed Megatron's cell.
"We won the war, and you stabbed Megatron in the back by joining that coward Prime!" Bonecrusher smashed through the forcefield wall as it glitched, tackling Soundwave to the ground, pinning the young mech with his bladed servo.
Soundwave winced as the four blades on the large violent mech's servos pierced through his arms. Trying to wriggle out of his attackers grip, Soundwave was immensely trapped, as Bonecrusher pressed his knee into the his chest.
Bonecrusher smirked as he could hear Soundwave's metal armour groan, bend, and crunch underneath him.
"Yeah, get him Bonecrusher!" Barricade cheered from his cell with a couple other seekers, with the exception of Starscream.
Starscream cringed at the bloody battle happening in front of them. He chose not to cheer on Bonecrusher, as he knew Soundwave was his best bet of being released from prison eventually. "Get up Soundwave!"
Soundwave deployed his tentacles, using them to shock his attacker, causing Bonecrusher to stumble off of him.
Bonecrusher quickly recovered from the attack, ripping Soundwave off the floor by the throat. "You're just as weak as Prime, now you can join him!"
Soundwave got ready to attack the mad mech with his tentacles again, as the mech tightened his grip on his throat.
Megatron scowled at the hatred driven brute, harming the young mech in front of him.
"This is great, we're finally getting the help we need." Jazz excitedly mentioned to Arcee.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it." Arcee agreed with the grey mech.
BANG!
Everyone jumped when the sound of gunfire rang through the station.
"What the frag was that?" Jazz gasped jumping out of his seat.
It didn't take long for Arcee to realize where the gunfire came from. "Soundwave!" The femme rushed down the staircase to find sangria coloured energon spilt on the floor, and Megatron out of his cell.
"Get the fuck back!" Arcee screamed aiming her blaster at the warlord.
Megatron lowered his smoking canon, doing as he was told, backing into his cell, where Arcee quickly activated the forcefield barrier.
"Soundwave, Soundwave, are you alright?" Arcee kept her gun pointed at the unmoving beige mech on the floor next to Soundwave. "Soundwave?" The femme held out her free servo.
Soundwave looked over at the hole in Bonecrusher's chest, taking his femme's helping servo. "I'm fine." He replied looking at Megatron as he got off the ground.
"No you're not you're bleeding, and there's an offline inmate, what the frag happened?!" Arcee looked over her mech's beaten frame.
"Clearly Mir-Mm-Mirage... didn't listen.., to me, and pla-ced Bonecrusher in the mal-func-tioning cell. He broke out, and a-a-at-tacked." Soundwave explained as Jazz and another bot rushed over to see what happened.
"What the frag happened down here?" Jazz asked gasped at the bloody mess.
"Get a crew to come clean up this mess up, we've got to repair this cell." Arcee replied to Jazz's question.
"I can clean this up, if you want to dispose of this scrap?" Soundwave gestured to the offline mech with a hole burned through his chest.
Soundwave spooked when the stranger that accompanied Jazz, attempted to treat his wounds.
"It's quite alright Soundwave, I'm here to heal you." The white and red mech tried to coax the young mech to let him patch him up.
"First Aid, it's fine he's got an appointment with Ratchet, later." Arcee told the kind medic.
"But he's actively leaking, energon..." First Aid replied looking strangely at the odd sangria coloured energon bleeding from Soundwave.
"It's f-f-fine..." Soundwave replied, his voice distorted and full of static.
"You've seemed to have taken major damage to your voice box youngling." The medic continued to come across more issues, making Soundwave even more uncomfortable.
"That's not new First Aid, please can you just help us with this." Arcee said gesturing to the lifeless Decepticon.
"I will as soon as I patch..." First Aid blinked in astonishment, watching as the young mech's armour regenerated, patching the minor holes leaking energon. "Very well then." He smiled sheepishly at Soundwave, before going to assist Arcee, and Jazz.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Arcee wanted to confirm her sparkmate was fine.
Soundwave nodded wiping the energon off of himself.
"Fine, just don't do anything stupid." Arcee sighed, helping Jazz pick up the lifeless husk. "And fix that cell please!"
Soundwave nodded sorely, turning to repair the cell, stepping in his own puddle of energon, in the process.
"Maybe clean the spilt energon first." Starscream suggested.
Soundwave gave a smirk in agreement, grabbing whatever cleaning supplies he found at the end of the hallway.
"That was quite the show, I thought you were a super soldier?" Barricade retorted at the cleaning young mech.
"When you get pin-ned... un-ex-pec-tedly... it's difficult to recover, Super soldier, or not." Soundwave replied to the black and white mech's comment.
"Plus, Mirage, is the one who's the feisty killer, that can deactivate you, just by flicking his wrist." Starscream retorted.
"Pfft, whatever, Soundwave's just as weak as Bonecrusher said." Barricade scoffed.
"If I re-tali-ated... the w-ay... I was pro-gram-med... to, you would all... be in immense pain, so con-sider... yourself lucky!" Soundwave hissed at the cocky mech.
"S-s-so, you would rath-er... sac-ri-fice... y-y-yourself... then cause... others p-p-pain?" Barricade mocked Soundwave's speech malfunction.
Soundwave tried to hide his upset gaze, walking down the hallway to put the cleaning supplies away.
Megatron frowned, watching his upset nephew put away the cleaning supplies.
"Doesn't that just prove how selfless Soundwave is, even to those he imprisons?" Starscream mentioned to the tormenting mech.
"Pay no mind to Barricade, he's about as disappointing as Bonecrusher." Megatron mentioned as Soundwave repaired the malfunctioning cell across from him.
"I do-n't... know... what po-sses-sed... me to... reply... in th... the... first place." Soundwave sighed.
After a while of repairs, and checking the other cells to make sure there was no malfunctions, the violet young mech entered Megatron's cell. "Tha-nk... you... for saving... my... aft..."
Megatron gave a small smile to his glitching young nephew. "Do not show me gratitude youngling, I am a long way from being worthy of it. How did your speech go?"
Soundwave sighed, knowing his former leader was being modest. "It w-w-wasn't a sp-ee-ch, it was just an advisory an-nounce-ment."
"And it went well, I'm assuming?" Megatron rolled his optics at the young mech.
"Sure, well, it see-se-seemed... to work well. Quite a few cit-iz-ens... have shown up to vol-un-teer." Soundwave shrugged with a sigh. "I almost walked aw-ay... because it was a dis-ast-er... in the begin-ning... But, I took your ad-vice."
The massive grey mech was saddened, hearing the young mech's voice box was still malfunctioning stellar cycles later. "Soundwave, I understand the difficulties of trying to climb up from the bottom. While trying to convince the ones at the top, that I'm a worthy leader."
"That's true." The young mech said. "Did you have any re-grets... on your po-lit-ical... rise?" Soundwave instantly regretted asking the question.
Megatron kept silent, increasing the tension with each passing silent moment. He had so many regrets, he wished he could've take back.
"I'm sorry, y-y-you... don't have to an-sw-er..."
"I have many regrets, youngling. Too many to list off." Megatron replied, enhancing the young mech's curiosity.
Soundwave was curious about his Uncle's regrets, but understood that the former warlord's response was a polite way of not answering the question, and Soundwave respected that reply.
Arcee descended the stairs confused to see that her mech was nowhere to be seen. [Where are you now, did you lock yourself in a cell?] the cobalt blue femme sighed, walking down the hallway. "Soundwave?" She called looking into the cells as she passed them.
"Hey, it would be a much more pleasant stay, if you were in this cell with me." Barricade called over to the femme standing on the outside of the his cell.
"Ugh, not even if Unicron forced me in there himself." Arcee scoffed in disgust, quickly stomping further down the hallway. "Soundwave!"
"Smooth, you really are pathetic Barricade." Starscream shook his helm at the black and white mech.
Hearing his name being called, Soundwave deactivated forcefield barrier to Megatron's cell, peeking his helm into the hallway. "Ov-er... h... kzzk!" Calling out to his femme caused his malfunctioning voice box to glitch harshly, sending him into a coughing fit.
Megatron winced at the harsh coughing emitting from his nephew. "Easy, you shouldn't be aggravating your voice box."
"I'm f-f-fine..." Soundwave replied, his vents cycling wildly, until the cooling fans clicked on.
"He's not wrong." Arcee agreed with former warlord, guiding her mech out of the cell, before reactivating energy barrier, trapping Megatron in his cell. "Come'on it's time to see Ratchet."
"O-kay..." The violet mech reluctantly agreed, opening a ground bridge into the medical facility.
Megatron watched in concern, as the young couple disappeared through the bridge. Secretly wishing he could do more to help Soundwave.
"I'm surprised that Soundwave hadn't gotten that malfunction repaired deca cycles ago." Starscream scoffed as the ground bridge dissipated. "I figured Soundwave thrived at being a perfectionist, that awful voice of his, is a major imperfection."
"Soundwave does not strive for perfection, he strives for everyone to function, and keep a peaceful order. That glitch of his, has been an ongoing concern, because of the caste system we had!" Megatron snarled at his former Air Commander.
"What did the caste system do to Soundwave? He was just a sparkling, that didn't even know about the caste." Starscream retorted with a laugh.
"You were one of the higher caste members, you knew nothing about the lifestyle of the lower caste!" Megatron hissed, slamming a fist against the forcefield barrier, that separated him from the seeker. "Soundwave was maimed in a mining accident."
Starscream cocked an optic ridge in confusion. "What in the Allspark, was a sparkling doing in the mines of Kaon?"
"Xanthia... his creator had to take him with her, to slave in the mines, because leaving a sparkling at home in Kaon, meant a dead sparkling." The former Decepticon leader explained. "The smelting pit sprung a leak, killing a bot, and maiming Soundwave. That is why his voice is distorted, forever malfunctioning, until completely lost."
Bumblebee sat on one of the waiting room seats, next to Arcee, patiently waiting for Soundwave to come out of surgery. "So what happened today, there was a lot of bots that came in, gossiping about Soundwave?"
"Soundwave did a PSA, advising Cybertronian's to join us to help prevent Decepticons from causing destruction." The femme explained to the tired youngling.
"Oh, but I thought that the Decepticons gave up on fighting?" Bumblebee yawned trying to keep awake.
Arcee smiled, pulling the exhausted yellow youngling closer to her. "Although most Decepticons conceded to the end of the Decepticons. There's quite a few that would rather continue on Megatron's legacy, continuing to push tyranny on those who would like to live peacefully, and fairly."
Bumblebee sighed leaning into the kind femme's embrace. "There were a lot of rude, and mean comments about Soundwave though. A lot of bots think he's the one encouraging the Decepticon terrorism, and transporting them back here."
Arcee blinked with concern, not impressed that Bumblebee was hearing such rumours from the doubtful citizens of Cybertron. "We had such success today, why..." she sigh looking down at the now recharging youngling.
"Unfortunately the little guy isn't wrong. There is a lot of hate going around right now, a lot of our patients are trash talking Soundwave, almost sounded like they were wanting to exile him from Cybertron." Knockout mentioned as he walked towards the exit.
"It all seems great, until you look behind the closed doors." Ratchet added, entering the waiting room.
"Exactly. I'll see you tomorrow Ratchet." Knockout said, exiting the facility.
"Have a goodnight Knockout." Ratchet bid goodbye to his colleague, approaching the femme and recharging youngling.
"How's Soundwave?" Arcee sighed at the ancient medic.
"Soundwave's not taking care of himself." Ratchet replied sitting on the other side of the femme. "Like I mentioned a long ago, every time I do this procedure, I risk permanently damaging Soundwave's voice box further, or worse. I know it's an eventuality that he will permanently go mute, but if he doesn't help prevent flareups, by taking those serums I gave him, to prevent the flareups that causes destruction to his voice box."
Arcee sighed deeply stroking Bumblebee's helm. "I will get on top of that, and I will drag him in for routine exams."
Ratchet nodded in agreement. "Thank you, that's exactly what needs to be done, I will make a schedule for routine exams, and send it home with Bumblebee tomorrow."
"Sure..." Arcee wasn't so sure about Bumblebee returning to his job to hear all the nasty rumours about his brother.
"What's wrong?" Ratchet wondered why the femme gave an unsure reply.
"Nothing, so how is Soundwave now?" Arcee avoiding voicing her actual thoughts.
"He's coming out of stasis, I got his dents from that Decepticon jumping him, repaired. And his voice box is healed for now. But I am warning you, that because he went a whole stellar cycle without maintenance, if he has another flareup, that's it." Ratchet explained to the femme that her sparkmate was on the brink of losing his speech forever.
Arcee gazed down the hallway where her mech emerged from. "I understand, I will get him to understand as well."
"Thank you, drag him in here if you have to." Ratchet thanked the femme for fully understanding the risks her sparkmate was facing.
"Shall we get home then?" Arcee asked her mech that approached.
Soundwave nodded with a smile, cocking his helm thoughtfully at the slumbering youngling leaning against the femme.
"Uh, yes he had a busy day." Ratchet chuckled at the snoring youngling. "Now, You'll be sore for a little while, but you recover quickly." The CMO mentioned, to the young mech who gently hefted the slumbering youngling into his arms.
"Okay, th-ank you Rat-chet..." Soundwave winced in pain when he thanked the medic.
Ratchet smiled at the violet mech. "You should rest your voice for a moment, but the pain should fade quickly."
The young mech sighed with a nod, creating a ground bridge for him and his sparkmate.
"Well, we better see if Mirage made it home. Which I doubt, because why would he listen to a simple request." Arcee sarcastically said as they entered their home.
"You doubting me again, Cee?" Mirage scoffed from where he lay on the couch.
"Oh, you are home." Arcee thought aloud. "You don't have a great track record with listening to orders. So that mild doubt is valid." She retorted giving the red youngling a playful smack on the helm.
"Funny." Mirage rubbed his helm as Soundwave walked by carrying Bumblebee. "It seemed pretty busy at the medical facility today, Bee is sure going to recharge peacefully all night."
[Mhmm, if only we could get you to do the same.] Soundwave thought to himself as he put Bumblebee in his berth.
Mirage rolled off the couch, onto his peds, walking over to the scullery, where the femme was prepping energon. "How'd it go?"
Arcee looked up from the energon she was pouring Soundwave's medical serum into, assuming Mirage was asking about her sparkmate's procedure. "It went alright this time. But Soundwave has to really keep up with the maintenance, and taking care of his glitch. Or Soundwave loses his voice for good, the next time he has an attack."
"That's why you're sneaking that in his energon?" Mirage frowned at that news, but he knew Soundwave was going to become a permanent mute eventually, he could tell the exasperating maintenance was hard to keep up with.
"It's not really sneaky, when I have to heat his energon, in order to fully activate the serum." The femme scoffed. "But I am not counting on Soundwave to do it himself, sooo..."
"Soundwave's doing his best, trying to keep the peace, while taking care of Cybertron, and it's citizens. You know he always puts others before himself." Mirage said to his guardian.
Arcee cocked an optic ridge at the youngling. "Yes, I am very aware of that. But at some point, Soundwave, needs to put his wellbeing, before every issue he comes across."
"Good luck with that one." Mirage snorted leaning against the counter. "I mean, Soundwave's going to be mute sooner, rather than later. This maintenance is just prolonging, what little voice print he has left, in his mutilated voice box." The youngling was aware he was being a bit rude, but he was just being honest. "I mean it might be better once Soundwave does go mute, less hassle. And maybe the citizens of Cybertron, might not be as creeped out by his distorted voice."
"Mirage!" Arcee hissed, giving the youngling a smack, as Soundwave came out of the hallway.
"Nice." Soundwave glared at his younger brother. "Hey, ne-xt... time, when you br-ing... a vicious Decep-ti-con... into the station." He spoke trying to hide the pain in his tone.
"Soundwave, Ratchet told you to rest your voice..." Arcee tried to stop Soundwave from getting further upset with his brother, to which he ignored her.
"Can y-y-you actually listen to what little voice I have left. And not, put a very dangerous Decepticon, in the mal-func-tion-ing... prison cell!" He coughed sorely at his brother who winced as he spoke to him.
Mirage cringed, looking at Arcee who gave him an equally disappointed glare. "I'm sorry Soundwave, I didn't listen to you, I thought that cell seemed glitched." He apologized, noticing the new battle wounds on his brother's slender frame.
"You were lucky it was me that Bonecrusher jumped, and not Arcee, Jazz, or some other poor unsuspecting bot." The pain in Soundwave's throat finally subsiding, as he continued to scold his brother.
"It won't happen again, Soundwave." Mirage said happy his brother was no longer stuttering from the pain. "So did your PSA work?"
"It seemed to work, we have few new recruits." Arcee shrugged in reply, hoping to dissipate the brewing argument between the brothers.
"Yeah, I heard most of them talking scrap about Soundwave, when I was throwing another con in the brig." Mirage mentioned to the femme.
"That's what Bee was saying at the clinic." Arcee sighed deeply, looking over at her emotionless mech.
Soundwave shrugged, he honestly didn't know what to say. It was unfortunately just a negative outlook that was going to be put on him forever. "If that's how bots see me, I guess I'll have to prove them wrong."
"Exactly, prove them wrong." Mirage replied sheepishly. "Maybe don't visit Megatron so often..."
Soundwave raised an optic ridge at his younger brother. "I'm not going to do that." He replied to his femme's disliking.
"Well, I mean, it kind of does send a bad message." Arcee pointed out to her sparkmate.
"My presence in general, sends a bad message apparently." Soundwave retorted to his femme.
Arcee groaned with an optic roll. "Okay, valid, but communicating with Megatron just makes you look even more suspicious."
"Megatron just saved my spark today."
"And he extinguished mine, and tried to do the same to you, and Optimus!" Mirage hissed at Soundwave.
Bumblebee could hear the heated conversation happening in the front room, from his berth. Cute sneaking out of his room, into the hallway to hear what the commotion was about.
"And I extinguished his, it was a deadly battle, all of us almost lost our sparks. I will never forgive Megatron for what he did to you." Soundwave argued right back.
"You sure about that Soundwave? It sure seems like you're warming up to the idea of giving that tyrant a second, oh sorry, third fragging chance!" Mirage spat angrily. "I know you used to kill by his side, but that doesn't mean you should jump right back into that pool."
"Shh, you two are going to wake Bumblebee up. Stop arguing, before this gets out of hand!" Arcee warned the arguing brothers.
"Are you really going to go there Mirage?" Soundwave scoffed at his brother. "I was forced to kill next to Megatron. I released you from our training program, which you were lucky to be taken in by the Autobots. But yet you killed many, without a second thought, and yet, you were still forgiven. What about when you murdered Elita?" Soundwave brought up the incident of when Mirage killed their creators's sparkmate.
"That was Megatron's fault!" Mirage shouted with a nervous edge in his tone.
"That's not true, I saw what happened, I was there." The violet mech scoffed.
Mirage narrowed his optics at his brother. "Sure, you were there to bail Megatron out at the last minute. Sounds exactly like what you're trying to do now!"
"Megatron pissed you off, you got angry, and carelessly lashed out. Megatron dodged your outburst attack, you caused that fatal accident, you killed Elita." Soundwave hissed jabbing a slender digit into Mirage's chest plate.
"Soundwave!" Arcee shouted locking optics with her mech.
Soundwave's spark dropped, spotting the devastated yellow youngling standing in the hallway. Instantly regretting bringing up the death of Elita. "Bumblebee, I didn't mean that..."
"Go!" Arcee pointed to the front door.
"Arcee, Mirage, I'm..." Soundwave tried to backpedal, as Arcee shoved him away from Mirage.
"Go clear your helm, right now!" The femme forcefully escorted her sparkmate out the door.
Soundwave spun around to a closed door in his face. [I'm a fucking idiot.] Taking a deep breath, he transformed taking off into the night sky.
"Are you kicking Soundwave out, to live on the streets?" Bumblebee asked, clearly upset.
"Soundwave's going to be back later, he just needs a moment to chill out. Just go back to recharging, okay Bee?" Arcee calmly guided Bumblebee back to his room.
Mirage began to replay the battle for the Allspark in his mind, the warlord did jump out of the way of his blade, realizing his brother was right. He carelessly lashed out, causing a horrible tragedy. "Soundwave's right." He said as Arcee came out of the hallway.
"Mirage, no, you two were in a heated argument. You both said things you didn't mean." Arcee gently grabbed the youngling's shoulders.
"But Soundwave was right, I did get careless, Megatron got the better of me, I couldn't hold my temper, and I killed Elita." Mirage shook his helm no.
Arcee tried her best to recollect that horrid memory of her sister's death, she had buried down deep, hoping for it to never resurface. "Mirage, stop it..."
"Arcee, I'm not that so called innocent, youngling, anymore. Tell it to me from your point of view, you were there, tell me the truth." Mirage looked deeply into his guardian's optics.
Arcee closed her optics with a deep sigh. "Mirage, I really didn't ever want to relive this."
"Neither did I, but I want the truth." The red youngling pressed on.
"It was a mistake, Mirage, Elita was already mortally wounded. You didn't intend to kill my sister, but it happened." Arcee sat the youngling down on the couch. "You were blinded by anger, while trying to protect me, Bumblebee, and Elita. You struck out at Megatron, hoping to end him, and save us from his deadly torture. But he anticipated your attack, and dodged your blow, which ended up ending Elita."
"So why did everyone forgive me, if you all knew I murdered Elita?" Mirage honestly asked the femme.
"Because it was an accident, Mirage. Elita wasn't the first one you accidentally took offline, because of the way you were programmed, if anyone's to blame, it would be Shockwave." Arcee told the devastated youngling.
Soundwave transformed, landing on the clean smooth metal ground, next to the massive open ring, that led to the core of Cybertron. "Why, why did you have to leave." He thought aloud, directing his questions to the Well Of Allsparks. "I don't know what the frag I'm doing, I feel as if I'm tearing Cybertron apart, not rebuilding it!" Soundwave yelled, frustrated with himself. "I should have just let my voice box burn out for good. Why did I ever say that to Mirage!?"
Soundwave exhaled deeply leaning on the ring, staring down the Well Of Allsparks. "I should've been the one to sacrifice myself for Cybertron, not you." The young mech looked over his shoulder, swearing he heard something coming from the crash site of the Nemesis.
Materializing his visor, he enhanced his vision, seeing a shadow moving on the Nemesis. Cocking his helm curiously, he released Lazerbeak to get an aerial view, turning back towards the Well to coax the possible spy's interest.
"This whiney youngling, is the one you're trying to recrea..." a femme's voice scoffed, before being interrupted by her colleague.
"Yes, trust me, Soundwave's not as pathetic as he seems." Shockwave replied over the comlink.
"That's not the Soundwave I remember. So why can't I just strike now, get back to you and ignite the project in full?" The black and red femme groaned keeping an optic on the glowing young mech.
Shockwave groaned in annoyance. "Because in order for this project to work completely, we need to know Soundwave's life completely, before we engage our plan."
"This is tiresome, it'll be stellar cycles before we ignite the project, at this point." The femme retorted, continuing to watch Soundwave.
"Mhmm, you're being watched, and listened to by the way, I'm sending you a bridge." Shockwave mentioned to the sarcastic femme.
"Oh, I am well aware, I've got my masking field on he's not going to see or hear a thing. But thanks for the bail out though." The cocky femme replied shooting down the drone, before escaping through the ground bridge sent by Shockwave.
Soundwave transformed after the bridge disappeared, quickly collecting his beloved drone. [Who the frag was that?] The young mech mentally cursed wishing he could've gotten any audio or visual footage of the bot that escaped, wondering if it was that femme, Mirage was speaking about. He knew that he would have to ask his brother for more details. But he would have to climb out of the deep hole he dug himself, for calling out his brother's murder of his sparkmate's sister.
Walking back over to the Well, Soundwave gave one more deep sigh. "I miss you Optimus, I'm nothing without your guidance." He created a bridge for himself, stepping out into the front of his home, he removed his visor.
Arcee looked out the window to see her mech standing in front of the house. "Soundwave's back. So do you understand, that it was a mistake?"
Mirage reluctantly nodded, still feeling heavy with guilt. Watching the door open was nerve wracking to both Arcee and him.
"Look Arcee, Mirage I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up, it was completely unacceptable." Soundwave instantly apologized upon entering the home. "It was an unfortunate mistake, if anyone is to blame, it would be Megatron."
Mirage shook his helm in disagreement. "Soundwave you were right, I am to blame, not Megatron. Megatron avoided my attack, it was a mistake, a fatal one."
"Mirage, no." Arcee shook her helm sympathetically.
"Cee, Shockwave is not to blame either, he's not in a room with a remote device, controlling my every move. I chose to do that, I caused Elita's death." Mirage confessed to the two.
Arcee turned away, hiding her watery optics from the brothers. "Okay, it was a long time ago, we need to move on, and forget about it."
Soundwave placed a slender servo on his femme's back, pulling her into a comforting embrace. "We can move on, but don't forget your sister just to make us feel better."
Arcee leaned into her mech's comforting embrace. "I won't ever forget her. But please, never mention this in front of my mother." The femme firmly told the two brothers, who nodded in understanding. "Please, let's move on from this moment."
Soundwave sighed, looking at his brother, who nodded in understanding. "Mirage, I'm really sorry. I am about giving second chances, yes, but not without consequences for their actions."
"I know, and I apologize, I know you're already having a hard time with the citizens seeing you as a Decepticon. I didn't need to add to that stigma." Mirage sighed.
"Mirage, I know you're just trying to protect my image. Yes me visiting, and conversing with Megatron, obviously looks suspicious, I am well aware of that. But I know whether I talk to Megatron, or not, any ex Decepticon I am around will draw that kind of attention." Soundwave explained to his brother.
"I know, I will do my best not to judge what you do, I know you do the same for me." Mirage replied with a shrug.
Arcee took a deep breath, putting on a smile for the two brothers. "Okay, so are you two going to be nice to each other?"
"I think for the time being." Soundwave joked, trying to cheer up his sparkmate.
"Well, we all know I'll be the first to start another argument." Mirage scoffed getting an optic roll from his guardian.
"Before we start the next argument, can you tell me about that femme you were talking about earlier?" Soundwave said turning his full attention to his brother.
"A femme?" Mirage cocked his helm curiously.
"I was just at the Well Of Allsparks, and there was a bot spying on me from the Nemesis, and earlier there was this femme on the street staring intently at me." The violet mech replied looking out the window a bit paranoid.
"Are you sure it wasn't just some maintenance bots, looking over the wreckage?" Arcee asked following her paranoid mech's gaze.
"No, I think the Well was interfering with my audio visual feedback from Lazerbeak, I couldn't get a good look." The violet mech replied.
Mirage cocked an optic ridge, peeking out the window as well. "Are you sure you're not going crazy?"
"Mirage!" Soundwave hissed.
The red youngling laughed at his brother. "Alright here's the other thing. You're a spymaster, right?" Mirage waited for his brother to reply.
"Yes, Mirage, why are you being so trivial?" The young mech groaned in annoyance.
Mirage rolled his optics, shaking his helm. "If that bot was a spy. Would you, as a spy, not have put up a masking field, to hide your presence?"
Soundwave blinked thoughtfully, it was true, that bot must've had a masking field activated. "Why didn't I think about that?"
Mirage yawned with a smirk. "The spymaster gets out spied."
"Shut up, it just proves I was being watched." Soundwave looked at Arcee for support.
"I mean it could be one of my new recruits being an aft, curiously watching you." Arcee sheepishly shrugged.
"Then why would they shoot Lazerbeak down?" Soundwave asked why an officer in training would be hostile towards an innocent drone.
"That's suspicious, but not exactly a reason to be paranoid, Soundwave." Arcee replied, still unconvinced it was a spy. "It still could've been a new recruit, or Air Raid of all bots, and they got spooked by Lazerbeak. We need a bit more evidence before we label them a Decepticon spy."
"I agree it was probably Air Raid, he's a fragger, and even if it wasn't him, not every bot sees Lazerbeak like you see him. So they don't care if they shoot down a wild drone." Mirage agreed with a shrug.
Soundwave frowned, he had no hard evidence that it was anyone, he only saw the ground bridge disappear when he went to retrieve Lazerbeak. "Okay, you're right, it was probably Air Raid."
"Uhuh, that was believable." Arcee smirked at her mech. "Look, if it makes you feel better, both you, and Mirage, are excellent spies. You will both know if something unusual continues to happen, before anyone else does."
"Isn't that what I'm trying to explain now?" Soundwave retorted to his sparkmate.
"You need more evidence, then just one odd moment." Mirage said getting a glare from his brother.
"Go recharge." Soundwave pointed down the hallway.
"I will, not because you told me to, but because I am exhausted from hunting Cons." Mirage replied making his way into his room.
"Now that that is solved, there's a little youngling that you need to talk to tomorrow morning. I'm positive he heard your argument with Mirage. The death of his creator hasn't been brought up since we first arrived on Earth. I appreciate that you apologized to both Mirage and I, we understand that tragedy better then Bumblebee's young mind. So you need to explain it to him, and apologize to Bumblebee." Arcee sternly told her mech.
Soundwave sighed deeply with a nod. "Yes, I will do that, of course. Again I'm very sorry for bringing that up, I had no right to do that."
"I know you're sorry, I choose to remember the good memories with my sister." Arcee hugged her slender mech. "Just don't ever bring it up like that again, especially in front of my mother."
"I won't." Soundwave promised, returning the loving embrace, he did not wish for Arcee's creator who already hated him, to find out his equally mutant brother Mirage, murdered her eldest daughter by accident.
"Why don't you and I both take a break from our busy life, of keeping everyone happy, and just try to relax together." Arcee suggested to which her mech was reluctant to agree.
"Why, are you still mad at me?" The violet mech sheepishly asked his sparkmate.
"Although I'm still not impressed with what you pulled earlier, I know that will simmer down eventually. So no, I am not dragging you somewhere else, so I can yell at you." The femme retorted putting her servos on her hips.
"I don't know, there's a lot to go over still, and I should be sending out an announcement to begin a vote for the new high council." Soundwave replied, listing off a small portion of his to do list.
Arcee gave an optic roll at her mech. "It's one day Soundwave, we can stick to the less demanding tasks we need to do, but I still think we need a day to relax."
Soundwave was a little more lenient towards the relaxation, if he could still accomplish some minor tasks. "Alright fine..."
"Oh, it's so nice to see you so enthusiastic about trying to relax with your sparkmate." Arcee sarcastically commented on her mech's reluctant reply.
Soundwave exhaled with a smirk. "Let's go recharge."
The next morning came quickly once again, Arcee groaned as a slender servo gently shook her awake.
"Soundwave, why, do you know what time it is?" Arcee complained reluctantly opening her optics to her blinding mech.
"It's time to get up." The glowing mech replied to his grouchy femme.
"Ugh, you're too bright." Arcee whined shielding her optics from her glowing sparkmate.
"Come'on." Soundwave dragged Arcee out of the house.
"What, why'd you drag me out here?" Arcee groggily asked, as the cool morning air hit her. "Are you avoiding apologizing to Bumblebee?"
"No, I will apologize like I said, when we get back before the younglings wake. But take it all in, it's the best time of the day." Soundwave gestured to the empty streets.
Arcee scanned the area, realizing the streets were completely empty, not a single clink, or clank, could be heard, not even a motor. "Wow, it's so peaceful. Is this why you always wake so early?"
"Partly yes, it's really nice to be able to enjoy the silence." The young mech replied, walking his femme down the quiet streets of Iacon.
"Hmm, I figured night was your favourite time of the solar cycle?" Arcee scoffed, holding her mech's slender servo as they walked.
Soundwave shrugged. "The night, is still very much alive, it's not ideally my favourite time. But it's better for spying."
Arcee was going to ask where they were going, but quickly got her answer when they entered the enforcement station. "Spending time in an enforcement station with obnoxious Decepticons isn't exactly peaceful, or relaxing."
"No, but I figured I would just show you what my visits with Megatron are like." Soundwave replied leading his femme down to Megatron's cell.
"Okay..." Arcee wanted nothing to do with Megatron, but was curious to see her sparkmate's interaction with the former Decepticon leader.
Soundwave casually deactivated Megatron's barrier, making Arcee extremely nervous.
"Soundwave, don't..."Arcee gasped as her mech led them into the cell, reactivating the barrier once they were in.
"You brought a guest this solar cycle, that's a first." Megatron greeted the couple. "Don't look so worried, dear Arcee. I wouldn't dare try anything, while Soundwave still functions. Nor would I want to try anything, I willingly except my fate, to be a prisoner of my own thoughts, destined to rust in this cell."
Arcee narrowed her optics at the former warlord, she did not trust his words. "I'm only here to observe."
"Hmm I see, there's so much distrust going on with you Soundwave, not even your sparkmate trusts you." Megatron scoffed at the young mech.
"I trust Soundwave, not you, let me make that very clear." Arcee hissed at the massive towering mech.
"I think I had an encounter last night." Soundwave changed the subject.
"An encounter, did you come across Shockwave?" Megatron asked.
"No, I think I'm being watched by a colleague of his. But I don't have any proof." Soundwave answered.
"Okay, any suspects?" Megatron thought aloud, ignoring the femme that was glaring at him.
"Mirage mentioned there was crazed Decepticon femme that arrived not long ago." The young mech responded. "I was uncertain if it was Slipstream..."
"For your sake, I hope it's Slipstream." Megatron scoffed with concern.
"I don't think it is, because Mirage mentioned he thought he caught the name of this Decepticon. Fire something was it, or war something?" Arcee mentioned making the grey mech cringe with worry.
"What, who is it?" Soundwave asked picking up on his former leader's worried gaze.
"I fear your brother is very correct, in saying that this femme is insane. I believe who you are describing, is Flamewar, a spy, and scientist, extremely dedicated to the Decepticon cause." Megatron explained.
"The Decepticon cause that no longer exists." Arcee remarked.
Megatron chuckled dryly at the femme. "If there's one Decepticon, that would die, trying to continue the Decepticon legacy, it would be Flamewar."
"Soundwave, do you know her?" Arcee questioned her silent mech.
"I don't think so?" The violet mech turned to his Uncle for an answer.
"You've met her, Flamewar admired you, and envied you." The grey mech replied, to Soundwave's surprise, and confusion.
"Oh, how's that?" Arcee smirked curiously.
"Your memories of Flamewar will come back to haunt you, soon enough youngling. I'm sure once they do, you can answer your sparkmate's question better than I." Megatron retorted to the young mech, knowing once Soundwave dug into his memory banks, he would recognize the name. "But a fair warning, Flamewar is both maniacal, and precocious, and certainly isn't afraid to take out the ones standing in her way, whether it be Decepticon, or Autobot."
"So do you believe Flamewar is stalking Soundwave?" Arcee asked the former warlord in all seriousness.
"If Soundwave, suspects her of working with Shockwave, I can only guess that she is tracking your every movement, so that Shockwave can perfect his revenge against you." Megatron answered the femme honestly. "But it's only a matter of time before she turns against Shockwave, and takes over the revenge project entirely."
"So what do we do?" Arcee asked extremely concerned for her sparkmate's safety.
"Watch your every step, that's all I can advise." Megatron replied.
Soundwave tried not to let his worries go to his helm. "We need to get back home, before Bumblebee goes to the clinic." He opened the cell, gesturing for his sparkmate to exit.
"Thanks for that information Megatron." Arcee thanked the massive mech as she exited his cell.
Megatron gave nod in reply as Soundwave followed the femme out, reactivating the cells barrier wall.
"Try not to worry too much. She's most likely not watching your every move." Arcee said walking through the bridge portal her mech created.
"It's impossible to do so unless you have minicons, which mine will be almost frequently active since they are always hyper aware of their surroundings." Soundwave replied releasing Ravage, as they entered their home.
Bumblebee tiredly trudged to the scullery ready to get some energon before leaving for his volunteer activity. "Who left all this energon out?"
"Oh scrap, that was me, just leave it." Arcee said, gesturing for her mech to speak to the youngling.
"Bumblebee, can we speak for a moment?" Soundwave called his youngest brother.
"You want to talk to me about the fight you had with Mirage?" Bumblebee walked over to the slender mech, almost tripping as Ravage lovingly rubbed up against his legs.
"Yes, I want to apologize for waking you, and I am sorry you had to hear our argument. I didn't mean to bring up the unfortunate passing of your creator, it was wrong of me, and I understand if you are angry with me." Soundwave sat the little youngling on the couch.
"I'm not mad at you, or Mirage. I didn't really remember what happened that day, I think my memory banks deleted that memory by default." Bumblebee said to his older brother.
"That's called repression..." Soundwave explained what the youngling was describing.
"Soundwave." Arcee whispered, giving him a glare. [Let the kid voice his thoughts.]
Soundwave nodded slowly, returning his attention to his little brother. "Sorry continue."
"But hearing you all explain what happened that day, gives me a better understanding of the mistake that happened that day. No one is to blame, we were in a war, the war killed my mother, not Mirage." Bumblebee expressed how he felt about his creator's death.
"That's very sweet Bumblebee, I bet Mirage would feel better if you told him that." Arcee hugged the sweet little youngling.
"I can tell him after my shift." Bumblebee replied hugging Arcee back.
"I'm going to call Ratchet, and ask him to give you a short shift this solar cycle, you were really tired last night." Arcee rubbed the scout's helm.
"But I don't mind, I like working there." Bumblebee replied.
Soundwave sighed as an idea popped in his processor. "But if you work all day long, I guess you won't get to join us all at the play field, for a game of seek out and tag."
Bumblebee gasped excitedly. "No I will do the short shift, I wanna play!"
Arcee and Soundwave both smiled at each other as the bubbly scout quickly finished his energon.
"I'll give you a bridge to the clinic, and we'll see you later okay?" Soundwave created a bridge for his little brother.
"Okay, see you later!" Bumblebee replied exuberantly entering the portal.
"Well you just made his solar cycle." Arcee chuckled as the portal disappeared. "You do know this means we have to talk to the twins?"
"The twins, Jazz, Ratchet, Ironhide, and Mirage. All of them. Let's go do that..." Soundwave listed off team Prime.
"After you... we, have some energon." Arcee said to her enthusiastic mech.
"Fine." Soundwave rolled his optics as Mirage entered the front room.