Meant to update this story at the beginning of January but stuff got in the way. I made a New Years resolution to work on these stories more and my goal is to finish up this story and Angel From A Dream this year so I'll be trying to update a lot more. No promises but I'll be trying to update at least once a month, that's my plan. We'll see how it goes.
Soundwave's spark sinks as the door to the brig open up in front of him, he looks down at Arcee who is still unconscious in his arms as he hesitates to walk in. He would rather take her to his quarters than the brig. Surely Megatron wouldn't mind if he locked her up in his quarters instead. No, it would still be considered as being disobedient and he can't risk that right now. He walks in and heads over to the chains, his spark growing heavier and heavier with each step.
When he reaches the chains he sets Arcee up against the wall as he reaches up to grab one of the chains from the top of the wall that's to go on the wrists and suspend the arms above the helm. He grabs hold of it and brings it down to clasp it onto Arcee's wrist, but before it clasps on he stops and looks at her again. The moment they just shared in the cave runs through his processor, she freely opened up to him about something from her past and then they kissed. A kiss she encouraged.
He can still feel her lip plates on his as though they were still kissing. His optics fall to her lips as the thought of kissing her again crosses his processor, he longs to feel her lip plates on his again even if it's just for a second. But he resists, now isn't the time. He pulls the chain to her wrist to clasp it on but he stops and pulls back, he tries again but again he stops and pulls back.
He can't bring himself to chain her up, he just can't. It's bad enough he turned on her and attacked her after they finally shared a moment and he knows she's gonna hate him for that. He feels bad enough for that, he's not gonna add chaining her up to it. So he releases the chain and just lays her down on the floor, if she's gonna be locked up in the brig then the least he can do is make her as comfortable as possible. He takes one more look at her before he rises from his crouch position and walks out, closing the door and securely locking it.
Once he's sure it's locked up to where she wouldn't be able to open it he heads to med-bay. His spark ached as he got the feeling like part of it was left behind in the brig, he wants to turn around and go back, he wants to be with her and try to erase any feelings of betrayal he knows she's bound to be feeling when she wakes up. He didn't want to fight her and knock her out, even if she did attack him first, he actually thought about disobeying Megatron and letting her go back to her team. But in the end he knew he would never betray his lord.
He's been following Megatron since the beginning of the war without any doubts in his leadership or any thoughts of betrayal and that's not gonna change now, especially not for an Autobot femme. He will never allow an Autobot femme get in the way of his duty and his loyalty to Megatron, no matter how much he might love her. This femme is starting to have too much power over him and he's gonna have to put a halt to that.
He forces all of his thoughts and feelings to the side as he enters the med-bay, he walks over to the berth and gets on it without looking at Knockout who is watching him and feeling a bit confused. When Knockout sees all the damage on his visor and body he begins to understand, "What happened to you?" Knockout asks as he looks over the damage.
Soundwave rolled his optics and responded in the way he usually does, "Cave-in."
"No wonder you're in such bad shape." Knockout says as he gets to work on the repairs, with Breakdown's help. As they're getting ready to work on his shoulder Knockout notices it had been welded shut already and is already in the process of healing, when he goes to look at his arm he sees the same thing and gets very confused. Who could have fixed up the wounds? They were done so well he doesn't see any need to do anything. The only doctor that's on Earth, besides himself, is Ratchet and he's sure Soundwave didn't have any contact with him.
"Arcee fixed me up." Soundwave speaks up as if he could read his processor, he could tell by the look on his face that he was very confused by what he was seeing.
"Arcee?" Knockout asks in disbelief.
"Yes. Must have learned from Ratchet."
"Obviously." Knockout keeps examining Arcee's handiwork, "When we put in the code to change her processor and make her a Decepticon I'll have to talk to Lord Megatron about possibly making her an assistant for me and Breakdown."
That's an idea Soundwave will never get behind, he hopes that Megatron will leave that call up to him since he will be her mate. If it is left up to him then Knockout will never be alone with Arcee in a room ever again, he will be sure of that. Soundwave comes out of his thoughts and focuses on Knockout when he feels his visor being removed. He allows him to pull it off so it can be repaired but he doesn't hide the glare towards this mech.
Knockout just shrugs it off and proceeds on with fixing his visor, but he does keep his guard up. Being a medic for the Decepticons he's gotten his fair share of glares and scowls, though none would dare touch him because they feared Breakdown who wouldn't hesitate to hit a 'Con with his hammer or even kill them if they ever harmed Knockout. But given Soundwave's background, neither of them wants to fight him or piss him off too badly, they're pretty sure they're no match for him.
Knockout decided to start talking to ease the tension in the room, "The code is almost ready, we should be able to put it into her processor real soon." He looks over at Soundwave who is just sitting on the berth silently, "I'm sure we can put something into it where she'll fall in love with you. That should make the mating easier."
Soundwave still just sat in silence as he wondered how he found out about that. Megatron probably told him, or he was listening in on their conversation. Either way, it doesn't really matter, right now he's too focused on what Knockout said about the code. Arcee will have that code put into her processor and she will forget everything, even the moment they shared in the cave and the kiss. She will forget it all.
He thought about what Knockout said about putting something into the code to make her fall in love with him and he finds it a little promising, his spark would even be overjoyed to have her finally return his love. But it would still be forced which is not what he wants, he would rather have her genuinely in love with him. Besides the spark bonding will only fully work if there is real love, if it's fake then the bonding won't be in full.
"Soundwave." Megatron's voice came in over the commlink pulling Soundwave out of his thoughts, "When I give the word send some drones to my location."
Ratchet paces in front of the monitor as he waits for word from the others so he can open up the groundbridge for them. He was telling Optimus that this was a bad idea and that they both know that Megatron won't give up Arcee so easily. Even though the warlord agreed to the deal Ratchet can't shake the feeling it's some sort of trap. But it's a risk they're willing to take to get their teammate and friend back.
Ratchet stops pacing and turns his helm to look at the entrance to the base when he hears a car driving in. He sees June's car come around the bend and enter the room. When she stops all three kids jump out of the car, Ratchet remembered that the 'Bots were supposed to pick them up. They must be wondering where their guardians are.
"Hey, Ratchet. Where are the others?" Jack was the first to speak up as him, Miko and Raf look around at the empty base.
"Yeah. Why did we have to catch a ride with Jack's mom in her none transforming car?" Miko asks as she looks all over for Bulkhead.
"They went to meet up with Megatron to make a deal with him."
"What kind of deal?" June asks.
"We captured Starscream so Optimus decided to make a deal, a trade actually..."
"Starscream for Arcee?" Jack interrupts, the sound of hope evident in his voice.
"Yes. But don't get your hopes up too high, Megatron may have agreed but it could be a trap."
"Ratchet, we need a groundbridge asap! And prepare med-bay!"
"Right away Optimus." Ratchet doesn't waste any time opening up a groundbridge. June and the kids stand by waiting anxiously to see if they were actually able to get Arcee. Could med-bay be for Arcee, to treat her and help her recover? Or did one of the others get injured?
When the groundbridge is activated they see Optimus and Bulkhead running through carrying Bumblebee who had a hole in his sternum. His optics flickered as he tried to stay conscious but was clearly failing, "Bumblebee, no!" Raf shouts as he runs over to them followed by Jack and Miko, "What happened!?" Clearly something went wrong with the deal, Bumblebee is almost offline and neither Arcee nor Starscream returned with them.