"A very rare creation, that has not happened since Primus created the first thirteen Primes." Megatron released the young mech's shoulder, pivoting to face the wall.
Soundwave rolled his optics with a smirk, thinking his Uncle was getting a little ridiculous about what thought he was. "I think that's a little over the top, don't you think?"
Megatron scoffed with a shake of his helm, turning back to the skeptical young mech. "Did Optimus not explain how you came to be?"
"Briefly, I suppose, Optimus only said I was a direct creation of Primus, who took a piece of Optimus, and my mother's spark, infusing it into my sparkling protoform, before I was sparked." Soundwave shrugged in reply.
"Exactly, a direct creation of Primus, just like the Primes." Megatron groaned shaking his helm, as the young mech just proved his point.
Soundwave sighed, as a thought crossed his mind. "Megatron?"
"Yes youngling?" The gunmetal grey mech walked back over to the young mech.
"Did you know Optimus was my creator, when you were with my mother?" The violet mech asked, he knew Megatron eventually began to treat him terribly when he a sparkling, because of his political uprising, and quest for power that blinded him. But Soundwave wanted to know if there was an alternative reasoning behind his despising aggression towards a sparkling.
Megatron's expression went from emotionless to a soft thoughtful gaze. "The thought had crossed my mind, as he was very close to your mother before you were sparked. But your mother was convinced I was your creator, and for a while, I treated you as if you were my very own sparkling." The gunmetal grey mech's expression turned to anger, disgusted with himself for what he was about to say. "I treated you as if you were my very own son. Until I became corrupted by power, in my political quest. I was a terrible mech, I began to deny that you were my sparkling, I treated you like scrap. Even though deep down in the pit of my spark I still cared greatly for you."
Soundwave turned his helm away, in deep thought. "I was too young to remember any of that anyway..." he lied trying to be sympathetic.
"Don't lie to me Soundwave, you don't need to make excuses for me. I told Shockwave to abduct you and create a monster that could win me the war! In turn the only monster that was created, was me!" Megatron hissed at his nephew. "Do I regret it? Immensely! If I could go back, I would offline that very monster, and pulverize him until he was nothing but dust, making sure there was no possible way he could be risen!" The massive mech spat, passionately admitting that he was a horrendous monster.
"Megatron, shh... Megatron!" Soundwave visibly shrunk as Megatron aggressively vented his thoughts about himself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" He said trying to quiet Megatron down, before the Elite Guards came to investigate the noise.
"I'm not upset with you Soundwave, I'm upset with myself!" Megatron expressed the panicked youngling.
"I understand that, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up those emotions for you." The glowing mech apologized.
Megatron exhaled deeply, staring directly into Soundwave's red and cyan mixed coloured optics. "This is exactly why I requested you to visit me. I hoped to still have a meaning to you."
Soundwave was lost for words, when he imprisoned Megatron stellar cycles ago, he was furious by the former warlord's request for him to visit. He had murdered thousands, caused their home to die, and most notably, Megatron killed his brother in cold blood. Soundwave would never forgive Megatron for what he had done, nor would any other bot on Cybertron. The youngling gasped mentally, as another thought crossed his mind. Megatron's judicial trial would eventually be surfacing in the upcoming solar cycles.
"Do you mean having a spark bond, Megatron?" The young mech finally broke his silence.
"No, I would never ask you to attempt to rekindle our spark bonds. As far as I am concerned, I have no spark." Megatron gave a very morbid depressed response.
"I'm sorry, this is a bit of a difficult topic. But I'm going to return tomorrow, and discuss more pressing matters with you, like your upcoming trial." Soundwave slowly backed away from the uncomfortable conversation, shutting the cell behind him.
"Forget about my trial, youngling. Research the Primes, you are already one of them!" Megatron called after the violet mech that hastily left the prison.
"Oof!" Arcee fell backwards onto her back after being knocked over by her escaping sparkmate. "Soundwave?!"
Soundwave cringed in surprise, helping his sparkmate off the ground. "Sorry, Arcee!"
"Primus Soundwave, you came out the door like you were being chased by Scraplets, what's going on with you?" Arcee dusted herself off.
"Nope, just escaping an uh-un-uncomfortable... moment." The violet mech smiled sheepishly.
"Okay, I'll inquire about that later. But since you're not going back to High Council, what are you going to do for the rest of the solar cycle, it's almost afternoon?" Arcee asked, walking back to her office with her mech,.
"I don't know, what are you doing this lovely solar cycle?" Soundwave playfully replied, gently taking hold of his femme's servo.
"Well I am glad to see your charm hasn't been hindered by your shitty morning." Arcee chuckled warmly, giving the slender servo a gentle squeeze. "Unfortunately I've got investigation files to go through, and complaints to reply to from citizens. I'll have to give the elite guards a talking to about their social skills." The femme sighed in annoyance.
The young mech cocked his helm thoughtfully with a smile at his sparkmate. "Good luck with that, seems they have less social skills than I do."
"Very funny. Hey on your way out, can you tell Mirage to stop goofing off with Jazz, and get his aft in my office so we can talk about his role in this Decepticon scientist hunt." Arcee scoffed, gesturing to the giggling mechs near the entrance.
Soundwave nodded, keeping his smile. "I can do that for you." the bioluminescent mech said, walking over to the joking officers.
"Thank you, love you, don't forget to pick up Bee later!" Arcee called after her mech, before retreating into her office.
Soundwave playfully kicked his brother in the aft, immediately getting a defensive reaction from the young assassin.
Mirage spun around grabbing Soundwave's ped, pulling his brother to the ground, who in turn used his captured servo to kick the red youngling over him.
Soundwave rolled onto peds, while Mirage flipped through the air, landing on his peds as well. "Ar-Ar-cee... wants you in her office."
"Sure, I'll see you later Wave." Mirage casually walked to Arcee's office.
Both officers except for Jazz, looked stunned at the sudden actions of the mutant brothers. "So, is that like a regular thing for you two?" One of the officers questioned the young mech.
"It happens at least once a day, we should get back out on patrol." Jazz replied, guiding his officers out the entrance, with Soundwave in tow. "Catch ya later Wave."
Soundwave sighed, watching the three mechs transform and drive off, while he blankly stared, wondering what to do with himself. [There's no fragging way I'm going to sit at home and do nothing. And there's no way I'm going back to Megatron...] he thought to himself as a Kaon supply transporter passed by. [What productivity is going on in Kaon?] The young mech transformed, flying to Kaon. He was surprised to see a supply transport from Kaon, it meant that the former Decepticon capitol was once again being lived in and flourishing.
Flying into Kaon was like entering another dimension, it was dark, cold, and dirty. It didn't look like much had changed, except for the Elite Guards patrolling the streets. Soundwave veered to the far right, locating a familiar alloy mine. Transforming landing next to a few Eradicon miners moving a cart full of heavy alloy chunks. Entering the dark dangerous mine, Soundwave strode past many ex Decepticons, scanning the unstable mine with his optics, no one seemed to be bothered by his presence, the further into the mine the hotter it got, the humidity was terrible to the point of rusting the structural struts.
"Soundwave?" A massive one opticed mech called, placing down a massive chunk of alloy.
"Um, hello..." Soundwave awkwardly approached a massive mech that seemed to recognize him.
"You're Xanthia's youngling!" The purple and green mech bluntly said, as the young mech stopped in front of him, illuminating them both with his violet glowing grooves.
"I am..." Soundwave winced as water dripped onto his helm, looking up at the rusted warping metal ceiling that dripped on him.
"I used to mine with her down here, before I became a guard at Megatron's fortress, before the war broke out." Lugnut explained to the young mech that continued to have soot and water fall onto him.
"R-r-really?" Soundwave wiped the water, and black soot off his helm as his voice glitched out, causing him to cough.
"Yeah, she brought you here a few times, before that bad accident made her quit, I'm shocked that you two got out of that accident alive..." Lugnut cocked his helm curiously at the coughing youngling. "And functional?"
"F-f-functional... enough." Soundwave hit his chest, clearing the painful burning static in his throat. "I am losing my v-voice... box because of that mining accident, and I hope to p-pr-prevent... others from getting maimed." He mentioned as more rusty water and soot dropped onto him, the rusty water making alloy shards and black soot stick to his frame.
"Yeah, well it hasn't gotten much better, as you can tell." The massive mech gestured to the ceiling leak that kept dripping onto Soundwave.
"Cybertron is r-re-rebuilt... now, why come back here, why not find a s-safer... occupation?" The young mech naively questioned the mech's career choice.
Lugnut chuckled dryly. "Because mining, and breaking things is all I know kid."
"Okay, I get that, b-bu-but... this can't be up to code?" Soundwave shook the water off of himself.
"Like I said, things haven't really changed, we've had three fatal accidents, because the smelter is inside without any ventilation. It keeps either melting, or rusting, the struts that keep this place from caving in." Lugnut escorted the filthy young mech to the smelter.
Soundwave took a frightened step backwards away from the smelter, stepping into the massive mech that brought him to the smelter that maimed him.
"Pfft, yeah I don't trust it either." The purple and green mech scoffed.
Shaking the horrible memories out of his helm, Soundwave turned to Lugnut. "This isn't r-ri-right... I'm going to fix this. Tell everyone to exit the mine cautiously."
"Soundwave, don't be insane, you can't make this better." Lugnut replied in disbelief.
"If you bots are going to s-stick... with this job, I am at least g-go-going... to make it better for you. You're not nameless slaves anymore, you de-des-deserve... a safer environment to work in." Soundwave told the one opticed mech, who followed him. "Please everyone, d-dr-drop... what you're doing, take a respite for a joor or two, it's not safe in here."
"Who is this malfunctioning youngling?"
"Are you insane?"
The miners scoffed, unsure of the random youngling that began to command them.
"Lugnut, ca-can... you please help convince them to leave?" Soundwave turned to the massive mech who seemed just as unconvinced.
Lugnut sighed with a reluctant nod. "You heard him, go take a well earned energon break." the mech led the reluctant miners out of the mines.
Soundwave sighed, walking up to the upper platform above the smelter, pressing the button that poured the molten alloy into the shaping trays, creating new struts, and metal wall panels.
Joors of reconstruction went by, Soundwave replaced all the rusted and warped struts, he was also successful in creating an outer smelter, that was easy to access from the mine. After being thanked profusely by the miners, Soundwave ventured to the other mines of Kaon, doing the same safety reconstruction, until it began to get dark.
"So you're telling me, you searched the recent vandalism sites, and couldn't pick up a single energon trail?" Arcee sighed deeply at the red youngling.
"Well I found an energon trail from the one last night, but it was an arial trail, I couldn't follow it." Mirage replied to his exhausted guardian.
Arcee visibly jumped when her intercom buzzed, alerting her to an incoming call from the front desk.
"Jumpy much?" Mirage retorted leaping into one of the seats in front of the femme's desk.
"Shut up Mirage." Arcee hissed answering the call. "What is it Jazz?"
"You got a visitor, sending them your way." Jazz ended the call.
Both Arcee and Mirage watched as Bumblebee entered the office.
"Bumblebee, where's Soundwave?" The femme questioned seeing the yellow youngling entering by himself.
"I don't know, Wave never came to the clinic to get me." Bumblebee replied sitting next to Mirage.
"Ugh, I told him to pick you up!" Arcee hissed as another call came in. "What?!"
"Prowl's been trying to contact Soundwave, for a few joors now, and hasn't been able to get a hold of him. He's getting ready to send a squad to go search for your sparkmate." Jazz replied as the femme left her office with the two younglings.
"Tell Prowl to hold off, I'll go find Soundwave." Arcee stormed by the front desk, with the younglings. "Mirage, take your brother home." Once outside the station, the femme transformed peeling off into the streets of Iacon.
"Soundwave, this is incredible, I've never seen the mines look like this." Lugnut praised the exhausted young mech, that was now painted black from all the grime in the mines.
"I don't know why this wasn't d-done... eons ago, you're l-li-living... beings, just like any other Cybertronian." Soundwave scoffed shaking his helm. "You also have th-the... right to choose a different d-di-direction... if you wish to leave this occupation. You're not chained this mine."
"Your enthusiasm is inspiring youngling, Thank you, you've made Kaon labourers look that much better, it's time to pack it up for the night though." Lugnut thanked the young mech before parting ways.
"Night?" Soundwave scanned the dark sky with his exhausted optics. "Scrap, Bumblebee!" He quickly created a ground bridge to the medical facility.
"Primus!" Knockout leapt back from the soot covered young mech. "Soundwave, is that you under that filth?" The fancy medic cringed at Soundwave's filthy frame.
"Where's Bumblebee?" Soundwave asked, ignoring Knockout's comment.
"He went home with Mirage, and Arcee, who came in here searching for you." Knockout replied. "I can detail and get all that grime off of you..."
"When did Arcee leave?" The filthy mech asked continuing to ignore Knockout's comments.
"Arcee went back home a few moments ago, hoping to find you there." The red medic replied, as Soundwave left through a ground bridge
"Whoa, who the frag are you!?" Mirage leapt off the couch, as a dark mech entered their home, unknowingly putting Soundwave at gunpoint.
Bumblebee cowered on the couch, as Arcee came storming down the hallway to face the intruder.
"Mirage it's me, S-Sound-Soundwave!" Soundwave held up his servos.
Arcee locked her optics onto the recognizable red and cyan coloured optics. "Soundwave what the frag?!" the femme pushed Mirage's blaster down, as she approached her soot covered mech. "Why are you so filthy, and why didn't you pick up Bee?"
"I went to Kaon, I g-got... caught up in repairs, I'm s-sor-sorry... Bumblebee, I lost track of time." Soundwave apologized to the yellow youngling.
"It's okay, I finished my shift early, I stayed at the clinic, and didn't try to call you. So it's my fault." Bumblebee replied to his big brother.
"Soundwave, Prowl was searching for you, he needed more info on Flamewar." Arcee sighed grabbing a damp cloth, wiping the soot off her mech's faceplate.
"I will c-ca-call... him now." Soundwave squinted his optics as his femme wiped his faceplate, before gently pushing Arcee's servos away.
"Ugh, you're getting me covered in this filth go take your call outside. Then go wash yourself off." Arcee groaned wiping the black soot off her arms.
"Oops..." Soundwave laughed before exiting to the outside of their home.
"Why was Soundwave in the mines of Kaon, doesn't he work at High Council?" Bumblebee asked, looking out the window, watching Soundwave speak over the comlink.
"He was told to take a break from High Council. But I'm not entirely sure Bee, sounded like he helped reconstruct something." Arcee shrugged with a sigh. "You've had energon, and holo vid time. Do I have to say the rest?" The femme placed her servos on her hip plates.
"I wanna say goodnight to Wave." Bumblebee whined, reluctant to go recharge.
"Get in your berth, I will send him in." Arcee pointed the stubborn youngling down the hallway.
"Night Bee." Mirage bid his brother goodnight in a cocky tone.
"How come you're not going to recharge?" Bumblebee grumbled at his cocky brother.
"Cause I don't have to, that's why." Mirage retorted, getting a grumpy glare from Bumblebee.
"That's not fair." The yellow youngling whined to his guardian.
Arcee facepalmed with a groan, annoyed with the arguing younglings. "Get in your rooms, both of you!" she ordered escorting the two down the hallway. "I don't want to hear any whining, or rude comments, coming from either of you, get in your rooms and stay there!"
Both younglings quickly retreated into their designated rooms, shutting their doors behind them to hide from the irritated femme.
"I don't have a-an-any... more information than that Prowl, un-unfort-unfortunately... I don't know enough about her. But I may be able to get in contact with those who do." Soundwave said to the mech he spoke to on his comlink.
"By those who do, I'm assuming you're talking about Decepticons, current and former?" Prowl thought aloud with a sigh. "We need to stop them before things get out of hand. So if you need to switch back to spymaster mode, I would greatly appreciate any information on Shockwave and Flamewar."
"I'll get you what you ne-need... sir." Soundwave replied ending the call, clearing the static distortion in his voice box, as he entered his home. "Where are the younglings?" He questioned only seeing Arcee in the front room.
"Both in their rooms, Bumblebee was being stubborn about recharging, and Mirage was being an aft." Arcee retorted to her sparkmate. "Bee wants you to say goodnight." The femme gestured to the scout's bedroom door.
Soundwave smiled, at his femme. "Alright, I'll say goodnight to him." he strode to Bumblebee's room.
"Good, then you can meet me in the wash bay, and explain what the hell you got up to today." The femme said, leaving through a back door.
"Bumblebee?" Soundwave approached the youngling hiding in his berth.
"Soundwave!" Bumblebee cheerfully greeted his brother who was blackened with grime.
"I'm saying goodnight to you Bumblebee." Soundwave told his youngest brother.
"Oh, okay. Ratchet said I can take the short shift tomorrow." Bumblebee said to his big brother.
"I have to get some things done tomorrow, but we'll see if you can join me tomorrow after your shift." Soundwave was hoping that Bumblebee would be occupied tomorrow, so he could get the information Prowl needed.
"Okay Wave, goodnight." Bumblebee said goodnight, as Soundwave exited his room.
"Arcee?" Soundwave called for his sparkmate, seeing the femme was not in the front room.
"In here." Arcee called back from the back of their home.
Soundwave entered the wash bay, immediately getting sprayed by a hose the moment he set foot in the large room. "Hey, what the frag is that for?!" He lifted his arm to shield himself from the cleaning fluid being sprayed at him.
Arcee stopped spraying her mech with the hose. "Soundwave look at yourself!"
The usually violet mech, looked over his very dirty frame, caked in soot, alloy shreds, and rusty water.
"You're absolutely filthy, covered in whatever that is, and you've tracked it all throughout our home." Arcee handed Soundwave the hose.
"Clean yourself off, I'm going to clean the tracks you left." The tired femme told her mech, before exiting the wash bay.
Soundwave was surprised at how much filth came off of his frame, he didn't think he was at the mines for that long, but he knew he definitely lost track of time, just trying to make the mines safer for everyone.
Arcee chuckled at her sparkmate who entered looking cleaner, but still had blotches of grime on him.
"W-w-what?" Soundwave tilted his helm with a confused smile.
"Has no one ever taught you how to clean properly?" The femme chuckled rummaging around for cleaning cloths.
The bioluminescent mech once again looked over himself, finding blotches of black soot on him. "I'm sure someone did at some point when I was a s-sp-sparkling... but I lived in Kaon for the majority of my life, everyone looked like this." Soundwave joked halfheartedly.
"What about when we were on Earth?" Arcee scoffed dipping a few cloths in warmed cleaning fluid.
"If I remember correctly, we only had li-li-limited... resources on that planet, we didn't really w-wa-wash... often at all. The Decepticons were the only ones with Cybertronian wash bays on their ship." Soundwave shrugged as Arcee threw a cloth at him, hooking it on his helm.
"Okay that is very true." The femme shrugged as Soundwave pulled the wet cloth off his helm. "Wipe off what you can, I'll help you." Arcee rotated her mech so she could clean his back, sides, and the other hard to reach areas.
"I c-ca-can... do it by mm-my-myself..." Soundwave said as Arcee turned him.
The femme snorted cocking an optic ridge at the violet mech. "Yeah, not very well. What the frag were you doing, to get this filthy?"
"I... wa... reinforcing the safety mm-me-measures... in the alloy mm-mi-mines... They were dangerous, and falling a-part..." Soundwave replied, filching as his sparkmate washed a ticklish area.
Arcee sighed knowing her kind mech, just wanted to help others in need without asking for anything in return. "That was really nice of to donate your free time, to create a safer environment for those miners. I'm sure they appreciated what you did for them."
"They were happy, and so was I, I don't l-li-like... seeing unnecessary deaths. But ha-how... was your solar cycle?" The violet mech replied, once again flinching.
"I was mostly in the office all day, pulling my gears out, I gave the elite guards a talking to about their terrible ethics. I also sent Mirage out, to attempt to track down any signature Flamewar's new accomplice could've left, he had no luck though." The cobalt blue femme replied with a groan.
"Maybe I can he-help... MM-Mir-Mirage..."
Arcee shrugged, unsure about involving her sparkmate in the investigation he was a suspect in. "Maybe..." the femme sighed, gently washing off Soundwave's sides, making him flinch and squirm. "Primus Soundwave, can you stand still?!"
"N-n-no... Let m-mm-me... do it!" Soundwave attempted to hide his laughter from the unintentional tickle.
Arcee laughed with a confused smile, at her squirmy mech. "What are you giggling about?" Wrapping one of her arms around her mech's slender waist to keep him in place while she continued to wash the crevices on her mech's side that had soot stuck in them.
Soundwave once again flinched, attempting to wriggle out of his femmes grip, while still attempting to hide his laughter. "Ar-Cee!"
Arcee stopped for a moment, then started cleaning again, getting the same squirmy laugh response from her mech. Putting two and two together, she finally realized Soundwave was ticklish. "Uhuh, I see, Mister personality has sensitive sensory nodes, hmm?" Arcee teased her sparkmate by tickling him purposely.
"Alright, ye-yes... I-I-I... do!" Soundwave yelped with a laugh, spinning around to embrace his femme, hoping to stop her tickling. "Ar-cee... ss-stop!"
"Fine, I'll leave you alone, for now. Just try not to get anymore of that gunk on everything." The femme gave up, stopping the playful torture. "Maybe take an oil bath tomorrow, if you're going back to the mines."
"I-I'm... not going back to the mm-mi-mines... tomorrow." Soundwave coughed in pain.
"I know you want to help Prowl, but I don't know how wise it would be for you to start involving yourself in this investigation, especially being seen as one of the suspects." Arcee gestured for her mech to go sit down.
"Prowl a-ask-asked... me t-t-to..." The violet mech continued to cough, walking over to the couch, gazing out the window as something outside caught his attention.
The cobalt blue femme shook her helm while prepping some energon. "I know Prowl asked you for information, but I will talk to him tomorrow, and inform him that I have Mirage assisting me on this investigation. You don't need to be at any more risk."
"Wave's at risk either way, really." Mirage scoffed standing in the front room.
"Did I say you could come out of your room?" Arcee glared at the red youngling.
"No... but you were only sending me to my room so Bee would go recharge." The youngling scoffed, standing on the couch his brother stood in front of.
"Mirage, don't stand on the couch." Arcee growled from the scullery.
"Were y-yew-you... expecting, c-com-company... tonight, Cee?" Soundwave asked sorely as three femmes approached their home.
Arcee looked up from the energon she was heating up for her mech, glancing out the window to see her mother, sister, and Moonracer. "I ran into them earlier when I was searching for you. I forgot they wanted to stop by this evening..."
Soundwave wasn't about socializing with others during small visits, especially when he was a possible suspect for a crime he didn't commit, and after losing his place at High Council due to getting suspended from his occupation.
"Soundwave can you let them in, Mirage come help me prep more energon." Arcee told the two brothers.
Mirage leapt off the couch, into the scullery to assist his guardian, who rolled her optics at him.
Soundwave reluctantly activated the door for the three, gesturing for the femmes to enter their home.
"Hey, you found him!" Moonracer excitedly said to the cobalt blue femme.
"Soundwave happened to be running late, that's all." Arcee sheepishly chuckled.
"It's good to see you all." Firestar greeted the young family. "Where's the little one?"
"Bee is re-rechar-ging... please, s-si-sit..." Soundwave replied, gesturing for their guests to have a seat on the vacant couch.
"Thank you?" The three femmes gave a quizzical gaze at Soundwave, wondering why his voice was even more distorted then usual, as they took their seats.
"Right, I suppose it's a bit late for a youngling." Firestar thought aloud.
"Thank you Mirage." Each of their guests thanked the young assassin who handed them each some energon.
Mirage gave a small nod with a smile, as Arcee handed Soundwave the warmed discoloured energon.
Soundwave gave Arcee a glare after being given the energon. He didn't want the energon, nor did he care to have the medicine that was mixed into it.
"It will ease your pain." Arcee whispered to her mech, sitting in a chair next to her him.
"The Cybertronian Police have sure been busy these solar cycles, how have you been handling it Arcee?" Chromia asked, starting a conversation.
"It's been difficult, both citizens ,and my officers are not thrilled about the Elite Guard stepping in." Arcee replied with a groan. "The Elite Guard is overzealous, and are attempting to override our policing. When they really just need to be on call for special operations."
"I heard you've been doing an ongoing investigation on the vandalism attacks on the outskirts of Iacon." The sky blue femme continued the conversation with her sister.
"Isn't Soundwave part of that investigation?" Firestar raised optic ridge at her daughter.
"Soundwave was investigated as a possible suspect, because witnesses were reporting to have seen a bot resembling his features, before, and during these attacks." The cobalt blue femme explained to her creator.
"Oh, did any of you hear about the alloy manufacturing plant in Kaon being bombed a little while ago?" Moonracer mentioned to the small group. "They're still waiting for help."
"What?!" Everyone in the room was surprised by the news.
"I was never alerted to that, why wasn't I alerted to that?" Arcee hissed turning to Mirage who shrugged at her.
"I was in your office when it happened. I never heard anything, is there even a police force in that region?" Mirage said to his upset guardian.
"There's nn-no... law enforcement, except the Elite Guard patrols, and th-the-they... care little about the citizens of Kaon."
"Soundwave, drink your energon." Arcee hissed at her mech, as she tried to get in contact with her police department.
"You were in Kaon not too long ago, you didn't here an explosion?" Mirage turned to his older brother.
Soundwave finished his energon as his brother questioned him. "I didn't hear a-an-anything... I bridged out of Kaon."
"What were you doing in Kaon?" Firestar asked curiously.
"Re-con-Reconstruction... in the alloy mm-mi-mines... so that less death, and injury happens." Soundwave replied calmly.
"You were in the alloy mines, and you didn't hear an explosion from the alloy plant, located not far from the mines?" Chromia also questioned the young mech.
"The explosion may have ha-hap-happened... during my te-tel-teleportation... to the medical facility." Soundwave continued to keep his cool, he knew he was innocent.
Arcee narrowed her optics at her sparkmate. "You didn't tell me you stopped at the clinic?"
The young mech blinked turning to his femme. "I was tr-try-trying... to pick up Bee, even though I knew I was late."
"I've got to go." Arcee sighed changing the subject.
"Where, Kaon is out your jurisdiction Arcee?" Chromia said as Soundwave followed his sparkmate to the door.
"The Cybertronian Police Force is linked with the Elite Guard, I have the right to be there just as much as those overgrown egos. Key words Cybertronian Police, I'm not just here to assist Cybertronians in Iacon, I'm sure Prowl is already on his way there and he's from the Tarn district." The cobalt blue femme retorted to her older sister. "Can you three stay here and Watch Mirage, and Bumblebee?"
Chromia sighed with a nod. "Of course, be safe Cee."
Mirage hopped on the vacant spot on the couch, standing staring out the window as his guardians disappeared down the street.
Firestar watched as her daughter and the violet mech transformed leaving down the street, before turning to the youngling standing next to her. "Are you allowed to stand up here youngling?"
"No..." Mirage smiled sheepishly, plopping down onto his aft.
"Can you turn on the holo vid Mirage, see if we can get the news broadcast." Moonracer asked the red youngling.
Mirage switched on the holo vid, switching through the channels until he found footage of Kaon.
There was thick smoke billowing from a large flaming building. Soundwave transformed landing in the thick smoke, he was barely visible through the thick cloud of smoke, only his violet grooves illuminating him. Arcee transformed, rushing over to the crowd around the building. "Everyone needs to back away from the building, the building is completely unstable, back away!" She began to order the crowd of miners and ex Decepticons who were reluctant to comply.
"Ravage, assist Arcee." Soundwave released Ravage to assist his femme in herding the crowd away from the unstable building.
Ravage ran up next to his master's sparkmate, giving out a loud snarl he began to back the crowd across the street.
"There's still a bot in there!" The miners began to cry out.
Soundwave turned to the building directly behind him, without a second thought he rushed into the smoke and flames. Materializing his visor, switching his visions to navigate through the thick smoke. Dodging the fiery debris from the building crumbling around him, Soundwave could hear light peds running around him. "Is an-any-anyone... in here!?"
"Help!"
Soundwave turned, following the sounds of the desperate cries for help, easily navigating through the smoke to a lone injured miner. On approach Soundwave was tackled into the flames by another bot, skidding across the fiery floor, the young mech tossed whoever tackled him into a nearby wall.
The violet mech stood defensively, scanning around him for his attacker. His sensors immediately alerted him to a threat attempting to strike him from behind. Soundwave sharply spun around blocking the attackers fist with his shield like arm, locking arms with the threat.
Soundwave's spark skipped a beat, when he finally got a good look at his attacker. It was like staring into a mirror, the young mech stared directly into the reflection of a black visor belonging to his doppelgänger.
The indigo glowing mech used his free arm to punch the stunned young mech into the flames around them. Soundwave rolled onto his peds, watching as what he assumed to be his clone, approach him through the smoke and flames.
Both identical mechs engaged in a vicious battle, both biding their time as the heat slowly began to strip them of their protective shielding.
"Soundwave?!" Arcee called realizing her mech was no where in sight. "Dammit, Ravage go find him!" The femme pointed to the burning building, as fire control finally appeared.
Ravage quickly ran past the fire fighters and enforcement officers, into the crumbling building to search for his master.
"Prowl, Inferno." Arcee called the two mechs after a couple officers took over controlling the crowd for her.
"I think Soundwave's in there, there's a miner stuck in the building." Arcee said, heading towards the collapsing entrance.
"Whoa are you crazy?! You can't go in there it's not safe." Inferno blocked Arcee from entering the flaming building.
"There's bots in there!" Arcee argued trying to go in, only to be pulled away by Prowl and Inferno.
"We just have to hope Soundwave found the miner, and gets out online. We're doing our best to fight the flames Arcee." Inferno attempted to reassure the worried femme.
"Help me question the ones who escaped the building." Prowl gestured for the femme to come distract herself.
Soundwave dodged his doppelgänger's attacks, striking back whenever he had an opening. He could tell this clone of his was not as experienced with fighting, although it seemed to have some of his signature moves programmed into him.
The clone had enough of the stalemate battle, using a sonic blast to knock the young mech away.
Ravage quickly ran up to his downed master, encouraging Soundwave to get up.
"Ugh... Ra-Ravage... return..." Soundwave commanded, not wanting to deal with trying to chase down his protective minicon in a burning building.
Ravage was reluctant, but did as he was told once his master stood up.
"Help... please..."
The young mech's attention was drawn back to the injured miner. Soundwave quickly rushed over to the bleeding mech who screamed in horror at his presence.
"No, you crazy pyro maniac, get away!" The miner weakly attempted to crawl away from Soundwave, but could not get anywhere as they were trapped by flames.
Soundwave scooped the frightened mech off the ground, with no other choice he created a ground bridge to the outside of the building. Stepping towards the bridge portal, his doppelgänger shot him in the back, causing Soundwave to drop the injured miner in the portal.
The miner, scared out of his mind, crawled into the portal to the firefighters and enforcement officers.
Soundwave jumped to his peds rapidly scanning for his evil clone. Who stood far away in the flames, watching motionless, as another ground bridge appeared next to Soundwave. Creating a fierce vortex, that effectively trapped the young mech between the two bridge portals.
Soundwave strained as he was pulled between the two portals, trying his best to free himself from the monstrous energy current keeping him trapped, until a burst of energy finally destroyed both portals, ripping through Soundwave in the process.
Arcee helped First Aid get the injured miner off the ground, just as the ground bridge disappeared. "Did a glowing young mech help you escape the building?!"
"Help?!" The miner scoffed painfully. "A faceless glowing mutant bombed this place, attacked me, taking me hostage, as he created a bridge. I just merely escaped from his clutches!" The miner exclaimed in immense pain.
Arcee allowed First Aid to take the miner across the street for medical attention, turning back to the burning building that was slowly being extinguished. "Come'on Soundwave, where are you?"
Soundwave stood up straight, his vents cycling heavily as he recovered from the energy explosion. The flame in the building was now almost completely extinguished, walking through the destroyed building Soundwave didn't have to go far to find his doppelgänger, who was now standing with Flamewar, and Shockwave.
"Y-yew-you finally show yourself coward." Soundwave hissed, firing his weapons at his clone and Flamewar. The young mech drew his helm back in shock as his shots went right through the two. "Wha-what?!" The violet mech walked over to the trio, who didn't even seem to realize he was there next to them.
"Excellent work you two." Shockwave praised the femme and Soundwave's clone.
"This part of the job is done, now it's up to you to make the rest of it all fall into place." Flamewar replied, turning to the emotionless clone.
Soundwave went to strike Shockwave, only to have his whole frame go through the mad scientist. "Wa-what... is going on?" he looked at his own servo, before turning back to the three Decepticons, who didn't even realize he existed.
"Speaking of that, come Flamewar, we must allow D-34 to completely his mission." Shockwave gestured for the femme to follow him into a ground bridge.
Flamewar quickly pulled out a few deceased burnt lifeless husks out from the bridge, placing them around the emotionless mech. "This should make them not even think twice about throwing you in the clink. Make sure to put up a fuss, but get captured!" She laughed before leaving through the disappearing portal.
Soundwave watched in horror as he put everything together, realizing Shockwave and Flamewar were using this clone to frame him. "No, no, no..." The violet mech tried to get his clone to leave, as enforcement officers began to pour into the building.
"Soundwave?" Arcee's spark dropped when she saw her mech standing over a few deceased frames.
"Blasters up, and surrender!" The officers demanded, inching closer to the emotionless mech.
The clone immediately fired at a couple officers, including Arcee, before allowing a few others to fire back, dropping him to the ground.
"Stay down!" The officers yelled surrounding the dark violet mech.
The clone allowed the officers to roughly cuff him, ripping him off the ground, struggling as the officers forcefully escorting him out the building.
"Soundwave, tell me you didn't do this?" Arcee hissed, once her mech was thrown into a prison transporter. "Why!?"
The clone paid no mind to the pleading femme, allowing the transporter to pull away without ushering a single word.
"Ar-cee... that's not me!" Soundwave stood behind his devastated femme. "I w-wo-would... never do this!" He tried to place a servo on his femme's shoulder, only to have it go through her.
Prowl approached the devastated femme with a sympathetic frown. "Arcee, Soundwave is being transported to your prison. I will join you on your journey back."
Arcee had no words, she simply nodded, before transforming driving off with the black and white mech.
[What the fuck is going on?!] Soundwave mentally screamed, transforming, following the two back to Iacon. [What has Shockwave put into action?]
"I knew he was more than just a suspect, once a Con, always a Con!" Firestar jumped onto her peds.
Mirage was dumbstruck by the news cast, he couldn't believe he just watched his older brother get arrested. Without any explanation, the red youngling rushed out of the home.
"Mirage, come back!" Moonracer called as the young assassin drove away down the street.
Both Arcee and Prowl had to slam on their brakes, almost colliding with the red sports car. All three of them transformed, rushing up to each other.
"Cee, what's going on?!" Mirage cried as his guardian hugged him tightly.
"I don't know yet Mirage." Arcee replied her voice was shaky, and unsure.
Soundwave transformed landing next his upset brother and sparkmate. "I'm rr-ri-right... here Mirage, surely you ss-see... me!?"
"Soundwave's already in the interrogation room. Arcee, I think you should sit this one out." Prowl mentioned to the femme.
"No, I can get the truth out of him." Arcee shook her helm as Moonracer drove up to them. "Mirage, go back home." She said gently guiding the youngling to the mint green femme.
Mirage reluctantly left with Moonracer, everyone completely oblivious to the young mech desperately trying to contact them.
Soundwave followed his sparkmate into the enforcement station, following her directly into the interrogation room, where his clone stood emotionlessly staring forward, motionless like a statue.
"Should I start?" Prowl whispered to femme, who nodded silently in reply. "Soundwave, I need some explanation here. You lied to us." The mech began.
Soundwave watched as his clone curiously cocked his helm at the questioning officers.
"I have reason to believe that you were being instructed to cause these acts of random violence, by Flamewar, and Shockwave. Where are your partners?" The black and white mech demanded to know where the crazed scientists were.
The indigo glowing clone continued to stay silent, staring forward, clearly upsetting both officers.
"Don't play games, start talking now!" Prowl growled, to which Arcee raised a servo to stop him from yelling any further.
"Soundwave was losing his voice Prowl, he might have lost its use." Arcee tried to understand why her sparkmate was refusing to talk.
"Then text, Soundwave. You've committed crimes that have now claimed lives!" Prowl continued to demand answers from the emotionless mech.
Soundwave watched in distress, as a joor went by, without a single reply from his doppelgänger.
"Throw him in a cell, we're getting no where. Trace whatever energon signals were left in that alloy plant." Prowl ordered the two elite guards standing in the room, to escort the silent mech to a cell.
Arcee couldn't even look at her mech being escorted out of the room. She was devastated, disappointed, heartbroken that her mech lied straight to her face. [That's not like Soundwave, something is wrong...]
"Arcee are you alright?" Prowl asked with concern.
"Somethings wrong, I think we should have Ratchet take a look inside of his processor." Arcee replied, leaving the interrogation room with the mech.
Soundwave followed his clone downstairs to the highly fortified cells, where his clone was placed in a cell, just across from Megatron.
"Soundwave?" Megatron approached his cells energy barrier. "Did you get wrongfully arrested?"
The indigo glowing mech ignored the warlord and other shouting Decepticons, sitting quietly in the back of his cell.
[I've got to figure this out...] Soundwave thought, exiting the enforcement station, into the streets, where many bots just walked through him, not a single bot noticed him. [It's as if I'm in a different dimension...] the violet mech thought to himself, wondering if that strange vortex he was caught in, caused him to enter a different dimension. [Maybe entering through another bridge will bring me back to reality?] Soundwave thought as he exited the city. Finding his way into the Kalis region, approaching the Well Of Allsparks.
Soundwave began to calculate a ground bridge, before he could type in coordinates, a swirling ice blue portal appeared in front of him. The young mech took a step backwards, confused by the off coloured bridge. [Did I do that?] he scanned the portal, it gave him no information, no coordinates as to where the portal would take him.
With little, to no other options, Soundwave took the risk, hoping to find Shockwave on the other side, so he could demand answers. Upon entering the portal it immediately threw him into an out of control free fall. Trying to transform to stop his fall, panic began to set in as his conversion cog seemed to be useless, screwing his optics shut tightly as he prepared for impact, eventually slamming into the firm ground.
Soundwave was slow to open his optics, after his entire frame was rattled from the impact. Standing up, the young mech dizzily scanned the area shocked by the celestial atmosphere, he was surrounded by nothing but stars, even the ground he stood on was see through only. Looking at the clear, almost none existent, ground, underneath his peds, disoriented the young mech, causing Soundwave to stumble backwards onto his aft.
The young mech retracted his visor, staring deeply at his reflection in the floor. [I fragged myself now, why, why, why did I go through that portal...] Soundwave groaned in frustration, hiding his helm in his servos, as he figured he was now further in a realm beyond time and space.
Heavy footfalls slowly approached the frustrated young mech calmly halting in front of Soundwave.
Soundwave was at the point of not caring about who approached him, just waiting for the bot to walk through him like every other Cybertronian.
A large gentle servo was placed on the young mech's shoulder. "Do not let your frustrations override you youngling, you're not lost here."
Soundwave slowly lifted his helm from his servos, gazing up into the familiar royal blue optics of his creator. "Optimus!"
Unsurprising to the Prime, the young mech leapt into his arms in a tight embrace. Optimus smiled warmly, returning the much needed embrace.
Soundwave didn't want this embrace to end, tears streaming down his faceplate, not knowing if this reality was real, or not, but he was going to enjoy the most of what he could of his deceased creator.
Optimus Prime recognized this moment to be one of the most emotional moments for his youngling. Breaking the embrace, he held his crying youngling out in front of him. "Soundwave, this is not a false reality, this is real." The Prime wiped Soundwave's tears away.
"Hmm, this one is quite overwhelmed. Perhaps I brought him into our realm to soon?" A massive golden mech thought aloud.
"Hush Vector, he's just a mere youngling. Let him take a moment to adapt to our realm." A semi-sentient hologram of a massive silver and black femme spoke to the mech.
Soundwave blinked, wiping his tears away from his optics, as he turned his helm to see three Primes standing before him. "Y-yew-you're... Solus, V-Vec-Vector... Al-Alchemist..."
Solus cocked her helm thoughtfully at the stuttering static emitting from the youngling. "Indeed we are youngling."
Optimus stood up straight, putting a servo on his youngling's back, gently guiding Soundwave towards the Primes.
"Soundwave, we have waited long for your arrival." A very bulky goggled opticed mech greeted the youngling.
"You ha-have?" Soundwave tilted his helm curiously.
"Well we have for eternities, but when I informed Optimus of your forthcoming, he was very exuberant to hear that he did not have to wait as long as us." Vector Prime explained to the youngling.
"I-I... why am I he-here?" Soundwave hoped he didn't come off as rude, not that he didn't enjoy having his creator by his side again, but he could not leave his doppelgänger who was under Shockwave's influence, to create further chaos on Cybertron.
"You're here to fulfill your incomplete spark youngling." Solus began as another mech suddenly appeared next to the her hologram. "Ugh, you're late."
"Am I, I could've sworn Alchemist said this exact time, plus what about the others they're not here either." A mech with many components lightheartedly replied.
"N-Nexus... it's a p-p-pleasure... to meet you." Soundwave greeted the jokester mech.
Nexus smiled curiously at the youngling who greeted him. "It's a pleasure for me to meet you youngling."
Soundwave gave a halfhearted smile, instead of rolling his optics at the fact everyone kept calling him a youngling. [Though... I suppose I was one of the last created, during the wars uprising. And these Primes are ancient, and were alive well before Cybertron was even created...] he thought to himself, as he still wondered why many bots still addressed him as a youngling.
"So-Solus... what do yew-you... m-kzzk-mean... by..." Soundwave's voice box had began to burn out from being overused, reminding him of the limited use he had left with his voice box.
All four Primes were shocked by the sudden violent coughing that escaped the youngling, they did not predict such a malfunction from Primus's sparkling.
"I apologize, Soundwave just needs a moment." Optimus placed a caring servo on his youngling's back, trying to comfort his son during the painful flareup.
"The youngling has a defect, I did not foresee this when I peered into his spark long ago." Vector thought aloud.
"Because the youngling's spark is incomplete, Vector. I was only able to see small incomplete memory cores, when Soundwave was sparked. This defect must've been unforeseeable due to the incomplete memory data." Alchemist mentioned to the ancient golden mech.
Soundwave shivered in pain, visibly shrinking from embarrassment as the original Primes called his maimed voice box a defect.
Solus could see the youngling was incredibly uncomfortable due to the pain and embarrassment of his defect. "Perhaps we should allow the youngling to adapt to the realm, before bestowing him with our wisdom."
Optimus Prime gave a thankful smile to the kind femme's hologram. As Nexus Prime switched the starry environment, to an ancient, yet advanced, Cybertronian village.
"Optimus, feel free to find something to soothe your youngling's malfunction, perhaps Quintus will have something." Vector told the red and blue mech.
"We will return shortly." Optimus nodded guiding Soundwave to the village.
The violet mech shamefully tried to hide his coughs, while his father guided him into a small metal hut. Sitting in a seat Optimus brought him to, while the Prime rummaged through a few storage crates. *I bring nothing but shame to this realm.*
Optimus Prime's optics softened sadly, hearing his youngling speak defeatedly through their bond. "Don't say that youngling. I know you've been struggling with your voice lately, and that Ratchet gave you a very small window of when it will completely burn out."
Soundwave curiously took the small heated cube of medicinal energon he was handed. *How'd you know that?*
"I've had the privilege of watching over you, from this realm." Optimus smiled, sitting next to his youngling.
Whatever his creator gave him happened to quickly soothe his glitching voice box. "Do the other Primes watch me too?"
"When you were sparked they watched you, shortly after that, they were unable to track your spark. Until now." Optimus Prime smiled he truly missed his youngling's naive curious nature.
Soundwave was curious as to how they lost his spark after it was created, but he had many other burning questions to ask. "So what is this place, is this where you go when you're one with the Allspark?"
The red and blue mech shook his helm no. "This is the Realm Of The Primes, a celestial realm, beyond time, and space."
"You aren't one with the Allspark?" Soundwave asked hopefully.
"Not exactly, when I delivered the Allspark to the core, the Primes brought me here, before I could become one with the Allspark. Teaching me about this sacred realm." Optimus explained to his eldest son.
"So, you can return back to Cybertron?"
Optimus could see his youngling's excitement growing the further he explained how he did not go offline. "No youngling, I do not have the capability nor the power to return to the mortal world."
"Oh..." Soundwave sighed deeply, looking at the ground. "But I can?"
"Once the Primes complete your training." The Prime nodded.
"Training? I don't have time to train." Soundwave scoffed placing the tiny cube down. "Did you not see, I left Cybertron in impending danger?!" The violet young mech jumped out of his seat.
Optimus Prime calmly stood up as the world around them shifted once more, returning to it's original starry realm.
"You will certainly not be returning to your mortal realm with that attitude." Alchemist took on a stern tone with the frustrated youngling.
"To defeat the chaos you speak of, you must complete your training. We are pressed for time, I would like to avoid a forceful download directly into your spark." Vector Prime spoke firmly to the upset youngling.
"But I can't just stand around, taking lessons, just do the download." Soundwave groaned, he already knew they were pressed for time.
Solus's hologram looked extremely disappointed with the youngling. "Do not act like a reluctant sparkling, to a power down cycle. You must endure our training, to be able to defeat the created chaos your fear. A direct download to your spark has never been preformed before, hence why we should avoid it."
Soundwave once again visibly shrunk as the ancient Primes scolded him. He was acting like a sparkling having a temper tantrum, but he was just scared of what would happen to Cybertron in his absence.
"I think the youngling gets it. No need to beat him over the helm with your hammer." Nexus scoffed from where he stood next to the violet youngling.
Soundwave wanted to ask questions, but was too afraid to ask after upsetting the Primes.
"Very funny Nexus." Solus shook her helm at the mech of many components. "Shall we begin?" She said locking her optics onto the younglings mixed coloured ones.
In the medical facility Ratchet was very reluctant to do the procedure Arcee was requesting him to do on her sparkmate. "Arcee, you do know that if I do this procedure, you're risking everything in Soundwave's processor."
"You've always said Soundwave was unique, because you could crack him open, and download the data recorded on his drives." Arcee replied to the reluctant mech.
"I did, but it is unknown what will happen to his processors memory cores, or neuro clusters, when I do so." Ratchet explained to the very upset femme.
"I'm willing to take that risk." Arcee sternly told the ancient medic. She believed that her sparkmate was being manipulated by something, or someone.
"Fine, I will do it. Clear me an operation room in your station and I will meet you there." Ratchet sighed reluctantly agreeing to do the procedure.
In the prison cells, Megatron glared intently at the unmoving glowing mech, across from him in another cell. He could see the surveillance footage of Arcee and Prowl speaking to Ratchet, displayed on the glowing mech's visor. The former warlord was unconvinced the mech across from him was his nephew.
Soundwave's clone finally shut off the surveillance footage, standing up, he approached the energy barrier that imprisoned him in the cell.
"So what makes you think that Soundwave's not well?" Prowl asked, helping clear some space in a very large room.
"You're telling me that you can look at that dead soul in the prison cell, and tell me you can see that's pure Soundwave?" Arcee hissed at the black and white mech.
"To be honest Arcee, yes. That is exactly how Soundwave acted when he was working for the Decepticons." Prowl admitted that he believed the volatile unpredictable young mech downstairs in that prison cell was Soundwave.
"You didn't get to know Soundwave, as well as the rest of team Prime. You ask any one of the members of Prime that went to Earth, and they will tell you that's not Soundwave!" Arcee argued angrily, holding back tears of frustration.
Megatron watched as the slender mech studied the barrier for a moment, before the clone suddenly blasted a sonic frequency that was audio receptor shattering.
Megatron held his helm in pain, seeing his and the clone's cell energy barriers, spark, and fall, as he barely peeked through his tightly shut optics.
D-34 exited his prison cell, continuing to play the awful sonic frequency that caused the lights to flicker, and energy barriers to fall, freeing every imprisoned Decepticon he passed.
"Yes, I knew Soundwave wasn't really with the Autobots!" Barricade cheered running out from his cell, following the rest of the freed Decepticons up the staircase that lead to the main floor.
Megatron peeked his helm out of his cell, watching as what was supposed to be Soundwave, lead the small army of Decepticons. "Well played Shockwave..."
Starscream stood in the middle of the corridor, turning around to see Megatron retreating back into his unlocked cell. "Megatron, are you not going to take this opportunity, to escape this dreaded prison?"
Megatron barely acknowledged the seeker that entered his cell. "No, I am not a supporter of the Decepticon cause. And if you wish to have freedom once again, I would take any advice the real Soundwave gave you, and prove yourself worthy of being a free Cybertronian."
The seeker furrowed his optic ridges, in deep thought. Looking at the freedom he was just given by the Decepticons.
Megatron wasn't surprised to hear the seeker exit the prison floor, and take his chances.
Both Arcee and Prowl visibly jumped when alarms blared and flashed through out the station.
"What the frag is going on?!" Prowl gasped, hearing gunfire outside the door.
Both Arcee and Prowl rushed out the door to see Decepticons fighting officers, and pushing past the overwhelmed elite guards, in the midst of all the violence was Soundwave using his tentacles to attack any who dared to come near him as he exited the station with his Decepticons.
Arcee shot down what few Decepticon Eradicons straggled behind the most dangerous, escaping Decepticons. "Pursue them, we can't allow them to destroy the city, defending citizens is your biggest priority!" She defeatedly ordered her police force.
Mirage hopped out of his berth hearing gunfire outside his room, he rushed into the front room where all three femmes had their blasters drawn. They had shut the lights off, and the metal shutters on the windows were activated.
"What's going on?" Mirage asked.
"Shh, go to your brother, and stay in his room." Firestar whispered to the confused youngling.
Mirage reluctantly did as he was asked, entering Bumblebee's room, shutting the door behind him.
"Mirage, what's happening?!" Bumblebee cried frightened.
"I'm not sure, but I'm going to check it out. Go to Firestar, and the others in the front room. I'm going to the enforcement station to find Arcee." Mirage told his frightened brother.
Bumblebee nodded in understanding, watching as his brother activated his phase shifter, phasing through the wall to the outside.
Mirage immediately activated his cloaking upon seeing Decepticons running through the streets destroying everything in their path. [What the fuck is going on?!] he transformed taking the back way to the enforcement station. Arriving at the enforcement station he came upon the elite guards struggling, with Arcee and her officers, to keep the Decepticons from destroying the station.
Transforming Mirage immediately began to take down any Decepticon in his path to the station's entrance.
Arcee and Jazz both ducked as a sliced in half Decepticon husk flew over their helms.
"Mirage?!" Arcee rushed down to the youngling who cleared the Decepticon threat in front of the station.
"What's going on Arcee?" Mirage asked as the femme hugged him.
"I don't know, I think Soundwave freed all the Decepticon prisoners." Arcee replied rushing back into the station with Jazz and Prowl. "Where's Bumblebee?" She asked before rushing down to the ground floor prison cells with Mirage, Prowl, and Jazz in tow.
"At home with your sister, mother, and Moonracer." Mirage replied, walking through corridor.
Unsurprisingly every single cell they passed was empty. Except for one on the end.
"Megatron?" Mirage's voice was shaky, he was just as surprised as everyone else, to see the former warlord still sitting in his cell.
Both Jazz and Prowl aimed their blasters at the Decepticon warlord, while Arcee approached him.
"What happened down here?" Arcee's tone was distraught but stern.
"That abomination you locked in the cell across from me, freed itself and every dangerous Decepticon in this prison." Megatron emotionlessly replied.
"You mean Soundwave did this all?" Prowl corrected the massive mech.
"If you fools, are stupid enough to believe that Soundwave look alike, is truly Soundwave himself, then Cybertron is truly doomed." Megatron finally stood up.
"Soundwave look alike? You're telling us that the mech we brought in wasn't the true Soundwave?" Prowl challenged Megatron's word.
"Precisely." Megatron walked over to the timid red youngling. "That is Shockwave's revenge project, you must have had that thought run through your mind, when you saw that emotionless cog?"
Mirage drooped his doorwings as the massive mech towered over him. "I didn't get a proper look at him..."
Arcee sighed pushing past Prowl and Jazz's aimed blasters. "Look, I believe you're correct, whatever set everyone free, clearly isn't the Soundwave we know." The femme reluctantly agreed with Megatron.
"Are we sure, cuz Shockwave's known for scrambling circuits? Especially Soundwave's, when it comes to making him a Con." Jazz mentioned lowering his blaster.
"You're suggesting Soundwave's gone rampant?" Prowl cocked an optic ridge at his adopted son.
"Shockwave has done it in the past, on Earth, and failed every time, because something inside Soundwave always overrides his programming. Even as a Decepticon, under Shockwave's manipulative science, Soundwave has always been reluctant to act as a Decepticon." Megatron confirmed the cool mech's theory.
"How can we make sure?" Prowl sighed, knowing they were wasting time while the freed Decepticons terrorized the City.
"You put this one against him." Megatron gestured to the young assassin.
After enduring a flash memory of a look into Solus Prime's spark. Watching her forging magnificent creations, and gifting them, to having her spark suddenly extinguished. Soundwave had to take a moment to recalibrate his heavily cycling vents, and pounding spark.
"Creation, can both bring life, and destroy it." Solus spoke to the young spark standing next to her.
The violet youngling turned to the half sentient hologram. "I don't understand. All I saw was quick flashes of you creating, and giving the other Primes relics?" Soundwave thought aloud, very confused at what he saw. "All that, just to be suddenly deactivated. Why?"
Solus underestimated how naive the youngling was. "You, understand the concept of life, and death, no?"
"Yes..." Soundwave replied, wondering what that had to do with anything he just witnessed.
Solus could tell Soundwave wasn't understanding her message at all. With a flick of her servo she created a pool on the floor, a vision that showed the Decepticons destroying Iacon.
"What, those Decepticons were captured why are they freed?!" Soundwave gasped, shocked at what was currently happening to Cybertron during his absence.
Solus panned the vision over to the youngling's doppelgänger, who was currently leading the Decepticon rebellion.
"That clone, it's creating all this chaos. Why are you showing me this, when I am trapped here?!" Soundwave hissed turning to the emotionless hologram.
"Creation, that version of your person, was created for the sole purpose of generating chaos. Branding you with an ever growing unfavourable reputation." Solus began to explain to the boiling youngling.
"I can see that..." Soundwave growled, getting fed up with the femme's riddles.
"Can you truly see past your ignorance?" Solus sternly questioned the impatient youngling.
Soundwave was growing more frustrated with the Prime wasting his time, while his former comrades destroyed the city. Soundwave jolted suddenly, after receiving a zap from Lazerbeak who sat in his torso.
Lazerbeak sent soothing frequencies to his master's spark, reminding Soundwave that in order to get back to Cybertron, he had to complete the tasks bestowed on him by the Primes. Nothing else mattered, but to complete the missions given.
Soundwave deeply sighed, staring at the chaotic vision. "If my doppelgänger was created for the purpose of chaos, then what was I created for?"
Solus smiled, knowing the violet youngling was now beginning to understand her lesson. "That creation of chaos, has a false spark, there is no standing soul in the frame, so why was it created?"
"Because Shockwave wants revenge." Soundwave shrugged. [Didn't you just point out why my clone was created?] he almost rolled his optics.
"Why were you created?" Solus questioned, continuing to make everything a puzzle to solve.
"I don't know, that's why I asked. Why, am I supposed to figure that out here, and now?" The young mech inquired, tired of going back and forth on the subject.
"No, you will discover that in time." The femme replied confusing the youngling further.
"Why ask me that question then?" As Soundwave made that comment, he realized that this whole conversation was getting no where. "Why were you created?" He turned the subject onto to the female Prime.
"You're familiar with the Well Of Allsparks?" Solus said, removing the vision from the floor.
"Cybertron's core of creation." Soundwave answered.
"Do you know how it came to be?" Solus gestured for the young mech to follow her.
Soundwave followed the femme's hologram, in deep thought, he tried to remember what caused the creation of the Well Of Allsparks. "I remember Optimus telling me that it was created by a tragedy." He mentioned, remembering when his father read him stories about the Primes, when he was a sparkling.
Solus created another pool of a vision on the ground in front of the walking youngling. Causing Soundwave to stumble backwards before he could step into the vision. "It was a tragic accident."
Soundwave curiously watched, as a three bots seemingly argued with each other, recognizing one of the bots to be Solus Prime. The two massive mechs seemed to be furious with each other, their argument getting out of control. The young mech visibly jumped when Solus was accidentally shot by who he assumed was Megatronus, when the other mech dodged his weapons fire. The dark grey and purple mech almost fell to his knees watching as Solus Prime melted into Cybertron's ground. The other Primes soon rushed over to the tragic seen, as Megatronus made an escape, his devastated brethren gave chase.
It was painful for Solus to rewatch her own demise, but it was an important for the youngling to understand what happened. Redirecting the visions focus onto her melting frame.
Soundwave watched as the Solus's molten frame completely absorbed into the ground. The young mech shielded his optics as blinding cyan lights flooded the vision. As the blinding light dissipated, it began to reveal what was now known as, the Well Of Allsparks.
The violet mech felt devastated by the vision. "Are you saying the purpose of your creation was fulfilled, after becoming a pathway to Primus?"
"My death was an accident, and the beginning of the war between Primes. My purpose, like the other Primes, was to fight for the future lives of the universe. When we defeated Unicron, a battle soon began within our own ranks. With the aid of Megatronus, I learned that my creations would bring chaos in the wrong servos, therefore when I detected injustice within Liege Maximo, and questioned him about his use of his requested relic I created, I lost my life unexpectedly." The femme expressed what her true purpose was, and what had caused her demise.
[That was a harsh lesson to learn...] Soundwave thought to himself, after witnessing Solus's death.
"I know you have always questioned yourself, when you've had to take a life, in order save others." Solus removed the vision of the newly created path to Cybertron's core. "Now do you understand what I have been trying to teach you?"
The bioluminescent young mech nodded in understanding, nervously replying to the Prime of creation. "Creation continues on, even in death. Every s-sp-spark... has the ability to choose, with the capability's of chaos, and creation. Both elements of Primus, and Unicron, influence depending on the spark of the created." Soundwave gave analysis of what he had learned from Solus.
"It seems this youngling has finally completed your lessons." A new voice came from behind the two.
Solus smiled turning to the small mech, floating in an electrical blue orb. "Indeed Micronus. I assume you are here to deliver the next?"
Both Ravage and Lazerbeak deployed themselves from Soundwave's frame, without Soundwave's command, surprising the violet youngling.
"Ravage, Lazerbeak?" Soundwave called both his minicons names confused.
"How unexpected of them?" Micronus said to the surprised youngling.
"Sir?" Soundwave cocked his helm curiously, was Micronus stating that comment as a question he wondered, as Solus left him to watch the interaction from a distance, with Optimus.
"Unsure about what happened?" Micronus asked lowering his orbs protective shields.
"Yes?" Soundwave glanced at his creator for some guidance.
[Pay attention youngling.] Optimus smiled at his confused youngling, gesturing for Soundwave to pay attention and focus on Micronus.
Soundwave turned his full attention back to the minicon Prime. "You're Mi-cro-nus... the conscience of the Primes." He stated as the bright green Prime gently stroked both Lazerbeak and Ravage.
[Indeed I am.] The floating Prime grinned, satisfied his student knew his title. "It is not often a Cybertronian welcomes minicons as part of their form." He mentioned, creating small orbs on the ground surrounding Soundwave in a circle. [But you do it willingly, you actually prefer the company.] Micronus now used his mind to speak to the mind reading youngling, knowing without Lazerbeak, Soundwave had zero control of his ability.
Soundwave blinked as clones of the minicon Prime appeared from the orbs surrounding him.
[IT SOOTHES YOUR MIND AND SPARK FROM ALL OTHERS.]
Soundwave dropped to his knees, grabbing his helm, crying out in pain, as the thoughts of each, and every Micronus, echoed loudly through his processor.
Micronus snapped his digits making his clones disappear, relieving Soundwave from his agony. "A true gift."
Soundwave shook his helm, recollecting his own thoughts. "More like a cu-cur-curse..." he scoffed as his minicons nudged him to check if he was okay.
"You just haven't harnessed your gift properly youngling." Micronus reassured the youngling that stood up off the ground.
"I thought I had." The bioluminescent young mech sighed as Lazerbeak reconnected to his torso, sending soothing energy to his spark and processor.
"Lazerbeak has for you." The minicon Prime shook his helm, circling Soundwave. "What happens if you're separated, or if Lazerbeak is destroyed? You suffer excruciating pain in your processor, because you have not properly learned to focus, and harness your gift."
"How can I achieve such a goal?" Soundwave was eager to learn now.
"Through proper communication, and meditation." Micronus replied, silently commanding Lazerbeak to once again abandon his master.
"What should I do first?" The young mech questioned, making Micronus laugh at him.
[We're running out of time Micronus.] Vector Prime transmitted his thoughts to the minicon Prime.
"Do I just tell tell mm-my-myself... not to worry and just suck up the pain?" Soundwave questioned, also hearing Vector's warning that they had little time left for lessons.
Micronus chuckled, amused by how unknown the youngling's own self conscience was. "I'm going to transfer my wisdom, and understanding of concentration, to your very spark. Your lessons begin after I grant you my power."
Soundwave nodded in acknowledgement, allowing Micronus to transfer said knowledge and power.
Micronus allowed Soundwave to check over what he had just absorbed, the minicon Prime knew the youngling only needed a moment to understand everything that was downloaded. "Now, make sure you've switched off your ability with your newfound skills."
The young mech did as he was asked, switching off his ability to read others. He was unsurprised to see Micronus recreating the clones from earlier. Visibly wincing as he anticipated the boom of a everyone's thoughts echoing through his processor. But luckily all he got was a tiny muffled ping, alerting him to the many thoughts around him.
"You've done well. You will always have a choice now, but I want you to be able to filter out everyone's thoughts except one." Micronus said, gesturing for Optimus Prime to approach the circle of clones.
Soundwave unsurely watched as Optimus joined the circle around him, he did not believe he could single out one bot's thoughts through a crowd of others. "Micronus, I don't think I ca-can... do it."
"No!" The small Prime made Soundwave jump. "It is not that you don't have faith in yourself, it is that you fear the excruciating pain of the many thoughts of others, that shake you to your core. I want you to fight not to have that pain." The minicon Prime approached floating beside the youngling. "Focus, only on the mind you want to infiltrate." He gestured to Optimus.
Soundwave activated his mind reading, automatically wincing as the many thoughts of the hologram clones echoed through his helm.
[FOCUS, FOCUS, FOcus... focus...]
The young mech slowly began to filter through all the voices, as he tried to find his creator's voice through all the noise.
[Focus...]
[Soundwave...]
[Focus...]
Optimus Prime watched as Soundwave struggled for a moment, he continued to call his youngling's name, refusing to finish the rest of his thoughts until he knew Soundwave had completely gained full access to his thoughts.
Soundwave continued to filter through the many clones that told him to focus. [Focus, focus... focus... fo... cus...] Slowly, but surely they began to fade.
[Soundwave...]
Hearing his name being called by his father, Soundwave narrowed his focus down to that particular mind to read. Locking optics with his creator's soft gaze.
[Soundwave, I am very proud of you.] Optimus Prime smiled warmly at his youngling, knowing that Soundwave could hear him very clearly.
Soundwave smiled sheepishly back at his father, as the holograms disappeared around them.
"Excellent Soundwave, you have mastered your skills properly." Micronus praised the bioluminescent young mech. "And without the support of Lazerbeak."
"Thank you si-sir..." Soundwave replied, noticing his minicons bickering with each other.
[Wonderful, our master has found peace with his gift.] Lazerbeak chirped to the Cyber feline.
[Indeed, maybe he'll leave you at home more often.] Ravage sarcastically crooned to the surveillance drone.
[If anyone's to be left at home, it is you, you out of control mongrel!] Lazerbeak scoffed with a squawk.
"Whoa, whoa!" Soundwave quickly separated his two minicons before they attacked each other. "Did they really bo-both... just speak?" He turned back to the minicon Prime.
"Indeed, you have obtained the ability to gain access to other creatures subconsciouses..." Micronus explained as Vector Prime approached them.
"I apologize Micronus, but in order for us to be on schedule, we must gift Soundwave with our knowledge, and power, without lessons. As the youngling must return to the dimension he came from." Vector expressed with great urgency.
Micronus stared at the circle of Primes just waiting for Soundwave to come absorb their knowledge and power. "Understood." He nodded in acknowledgement joining the circle of Primes.
Soundwave returned his minicons to him, before turning sadly towards his father. "I know I have to fix what has happened on Cybertron. But I don't want to leave you."
Optimus smiled, walking his youngling towards the group of waiting Primes. "I know youngling, but I promise this will not be the last you see me."
"It's not?" Soundwave asked almost trying to hide his excitement.
"Once you gain the collective wisdom and power of Vector Prime, you will be able to see me, among other things." Optimus replied.
"Will others be able to see you?" Soundwave asked curiously.
"No, I will not be returning to the dimension you live in, I have completed my cycle." The Prime replied, guiding Soundwave to the middle of the circle before joining it himself.
"Soundwave, we have never attempted this, but with your idiosyncratic processor, we know you can handle such a vigorous download of wisdom." Nexus began to explain to the bioluminescent youngling.
"This transfer will be incredibly painful, once you obtain our wisdom and power, you have to unlock it over time..." Alchemist explained the process of the download of the wisdom of the Primes.
"Will that be painful to?" Soundwave asked genuinely, but knew he probably came off as sarcastic.
"Yes."
As the process of the transfer commenced, Soundwave froze incapable of movement as the intense searing pain ripped through his spark and processor.
Mirage reluctantly agreed to go with Megatron's plan. After his guardian and her fellow officers reactivated the prison cells, locking the only Decepticon left in the prison. They left the station to find the Elite Guard dealing with the Decepticon rebellion the best they could.
Mirage visibly jumped when he felt a caring servo cup his shoulder.
"You do not have to do this, if you aren't comfortable going against Soundwave." Arcee told the uncertain youngling.
"I haven't had the chance to see this Soundwave, that seems to be convincing you, and Megatron that it is an imposter. If you two are convinced that's truly not the real Soundwave, it shouldn't take much for me to realize that as well. I known how to weed out an imposters." Mirage reassured his guardian he could face his brother.
Arcee nodded, turning back to Prowl and Jazz. "Then let's clear a path to Soundwave."