Authors Note: Well, the final climatic battle became too long, so I decided to break it down into two halves which really was for the best. Between the battle with Soundwave in the Mindscape and the real world altercation they felt like each deserved their own separate chapters. I'm posting the first half now and the next in a few days. :) Also, I would like to say that a long time friend of mine recommended the anime 'The Rising of the Shield Hero,' and I binge-watched the whole first season. So if some of this chapter seems to have anime-influenced moments, I apologize in advance.
Thank you lisarussel687 and Starlit Storyteller for favoriting and following Resonance, it means a lot to me!
Chronicler Enigma - I enjoy reading your long and lengthy reviews. It is nice to read how you react at each points of the story.
Guest - Thank you for the nice review! It gave me a laugh seeing that in all caps.
Abruptly, Phage-One ceased firing and screamed; "PHAGE!"
The thunderous cry startled Sea Spray beside them, who shouted profanities at the outburst and demanded why they had screamed their designation at all. In the chaos, Phage-One's cry drew the immediate attention of the rest of the Autobot extraction force, which dissolved into a shout all across the hall on what was going on and why. By the time that Sea Spray had gotten it across that he had no idea, the M.T.O. became aware of an unsettling realization-Phage-One had lapsed into deathly silence. Moreso, they had not pulled the trigger on their rifle since the scream. He was not the only one to notice.
"Rather than inquiring why they screamed their own designation," suggested Skyfire in his measured, calm vocals, polluted by an edge of distress, "a better observation would be why did they stop firing?"
"Phage-One!" Rapt out Jazz. "Report! Phage-One!"
The nanoklik that Sea Spray saw that Phage-One had locked up, digit unable to pull the trigger and face frozen in horror, optics locked on some phantom enemy, he grabbed her, and the rifle, and dragged them back into cover, propping Phage-One in the corner before the Decepticons could resume firing in absence of the ricocheting blasts. So secured, Sea Spray snapped his digits in front of her frozen face, waved his servo back and forth and, lastly, smartly slapped her cheek, all with no change to her horror-struck thousand yard stare. Sea Spray cursed and snarled, "They're out!"
"There was no return fire!" Bumblebee butted in from the column ahead of Sea Spray and Phage-One.
"Fragging pitt!" Cursed Jazz as he curtly reloaded the energy cells in his photon rifle with quick, agitated motions. "It's Soundwave!"
"How do you know?" Challenged Spike.
"Seen it before!" Jazz returned crispy. "Prepare to hold the line. We're down a key player! If any of you slaggers spot that antique boombox-Shoot him!"
:PHAGE!: Optimus Prime thundered, pivoting on the heel of his pede to address the threat. Horror filled his optics as Phage was dragged off across the Cybertronian surface within the mindscape.
:Optimus!: Phage shrieked, distraught, as she was forced to watch Prime's avatar quickly recede into the background. :Optimus, help!:
His attention immediately focused on the long omni-directional snake wrapped around her ankle that was rapidly dragging her across the mindscape. The Prime's demeanor darkened with dangerous intent. To Phage's adjunct horror, Optimus Prime's avatar disappeared in its customary burst of fire and Cybertronian script. As his avatar burned out, Phage felt everything that was Optimus Prime go dreadfully silent and cold: the city-sphere dimmed, shifted and locked down whilst the scintillating coded sky sizzled out.
:OPTIMUS!: Phage screamed as her digit tips made frantic scratch marks across the flawless Cybertronian firmament.
The psychic scream rent through the mindscape and tore from Phage-One's vocal processor once more; "OPTIMUS!"
"Fragging pitt!" Sea Spray cursed and jumped badly yet again. His attention leapt between the Decepticons at the end of the hall and the now dreadfully quiet femme beside him with her horror-locked face staring at the far wall. "Any optics on Soundwave!?" Demanded Sea Spray, sighting down the hall with intense anticipation as the ricocheting blasts began to thin out. Likewise, the Decepticons grew emboldened by the lack of rebounding laser blasts and began moving positions, their silhouettes shifting against the dark veil encasing the hall, broken in sporadic bursts from the flickering lights and the angry red glow of their optics.
"None!" Sounded off Spike sharply.
"Damn it!" Snarled Sea Spray as some energy fire began resuming from the end of the hallway.
"I think I hear Rumble laughing!" Reported Bumblebee as he, same as the rest of the extraction team, began to resume the previous deadly game of alternating turns in fire.
"Little fragger." Growled Jazz.
In the chaos of the psychic battle, multiple events seemed to happen at once. Dissembling events, nearest the first to occur was Phage screaming after Optimus Prime's avatar vanished. Swiftly following that, Phage threw a frantic glance behind her where she found that she was drawing near the banks where Prime's mindscape melded with hers. On the oily waters, a fog had crept over it without either of them realizing. From its depths had come the omni-snake, curled around her ankle, that was dragging her into the thick rolling mist. A place, she knew, held hidden within its depths the eons old telepath: Soundwave.
:No, no no!: Rose Phage's frantic cry across the mindscape. From smoke and green chemical fire, Phage summoned a dagger and drove it deep into the flawless Cybertronian mindscape in the hope of slowing the drag. The omni-snake tugged angrily again and again until, finally, a shriek ripped from Phage's mouth on the last vicious tug that ripped the dagger from her grasp. Phage cast her optics from the silent city-sphere to the foggy bank as it reared up, and screamed a final time, :OPTIMUS!:
In the last of the series of quick successive events, Optimus Prime's avatar rematerialized at the bank in an abrupt burst of golden fire, his bardiche hanging at the ready above his cranium. Before he had fully formed, the Prime swung downward with the axe blade and severed the omni-snake in one fell swoop. A sharp trumpet of a cry screeched across the mindscape whilst blue and purple lights flared from deep within the fog. The severed appendage writhed and spasmed before dissipating in a burst of neon blue sound waves. Meanwhile, in a frantic haste Phage scrambled to her pedes but before she could fully stand, Optimus Prime moved swiftly to her position, seized her arm and helped her up. Phage clung to his servo then his arm as she gained her footing, her Send fumbling from her mouth in a series of frantic, disjointed words. :Optimus! Thank gawd! I thought-for a moment-:
:Optics on the water.: Sent Prime as he set himself between her and the Undersea. She quieted immediately and summoned another dagger to her left servo and a short sword in her right. Optimus Prime focused his attention on the fog, his features darkening. Thunderous he called, :Soundwave! I demand that you leave!: Phage cast him a dubious look but said nothing.
She was surprised when his demand actually got a response. From within the fog, a bright yellow flare shown before solidifying into the glare of Soundwave's visor. It burned into the both of them in equal measure before Soundwave's disembodied lyrical voice flooded the mindscape.
:No.: With the simple Send came such an anger and hate, layered in humiliation, a vengeance that needed quenching, that Phage visibly drew back a step as the force of the Send that hit them like a torrent. :You have no power here, Prime. This place...: His Send hung there in anticipation as his avatar sauntered into the open, the self-inflated swagger of the telepath in his element. Every pedefall upon the surface of Phage's Undersea was met with a neon blue ring of light that rippled outward, intersecting with the next pedefall before fading entirely, the effect not unlike intercepting ripples in water. Soundwave appeared half out of the fog and spread his arms wide in mock greeting, his omni-snakes spilling from the compartments in his waist rose up to match the motion of his arms. The mindscape filled with the lyrical pitch of his voice. :This place is my domain. As you should well know from our previous encounters, Optimus Prime.: At that moment, the mindscape echoed with the haunting screams of Optimus Prime from begone encounters over the eons. Phage fidgeted uneasily, casting a furtive glance towards Prime. She did not miss the cold, stonewalled glare, or the rigidness in his frame or how his free servo clenched into a fist. Soundwave merely laughed at Prime's discomfort, a sound that carried an eerie weight in the mindscape. :Statement: It is good you were the anomaly detected, Optimus Prime. Lord Megatron is pleased with your survival.:
:Why.: Demanded Prime.
The vibrancy in Soundwave's visor narrowed to a tight beam. :You know why.: Just then, Soundwave's avatar caught sight of the diagnostic window and canted his cranium, silently provoking, as Optimus's servo cut through the air and closed it. :Sarcasm: Am I interrupting.:
:Damn fat cat!: Phage hissed, anxiously twirling the dagger between her digits to adjust the grip. :Get out of my head! Didn't learn from the last time.:
Soundwave tilted his cranium in her direction. :Observation: There is no cliff to jump from this time.:
:You're still mad about that? Well, you know what they say, if I'm going down I'm taking you with me.: Snipped Phage. The Prime's free servo cut the air in front of her, which drew her attention up to him. His glare borrowed into her, behind it a silent order to keep quiet. Phage set her jaw, but the damage had been done. Soundwave's attention focused solely on her, the emotionless mask of his full helmet sending sudden chills down her spine.
:Foolish little sprite. You are trapped leagues beneath the ocean and cornered like a retro-rat in our very base. Your stint mega cycles ago to lure me into the labyrinthine caverns of your miniscule mind and dive from a cliff, in the hopes of terminating us both, is impossible here. In fact, I have the proverbial cliff.:
:Phage!: Noted nearly too late, a second omni-snake lashed out from the fog, its three pronged hacking spike gaping, ready to latch on, as it struck at Phage.
:Got it!: She sang, impaling the omni-snake on her short sword and then severing it with her dagger. The appendage dissipated after the same fashion as the first. But rather than another shrill, garbled cry from Soundwave, the telepath laughed ominously. When Phage turned her attention back to him, the fog was alive with a multitude of writhing omni-snakes. She gaped in horror at the sinister sight.
:About that cliff...: Sneered Soundwave, his unique voice pitching in dark menacing notes.
:Behind me!: Optimus Prime Sent, brandishing his bardiche as he shoved Phage behind him. With a sinister laugh, Soundwave unleashed the horde of omni-snakes upon them, each lashing out from the fog with their gaping three pronged mouths. To Phage's amazement, Optimus Prime held his ground, deftly wielding his bardiche in masterful swings that cut the appendages down in great swathes. He moved so quickly, the Prime's transformed arm was a blur of red plasmic fire. :Do not allow them to latch on!:
:I don't understand!: Sent Phage, as she slashed at one and stabbed another that snaked past Prime's defense. :Soundwave didn't do this last time!: After she had finished off one omni-snake, Phage whipped around on her heel to focus back on the main threat when another omni-snake rose up in her face. Her reflexes were nowhere near as fine tuned as Prime's, and had only time enough to let out a surprised, fearful shout. :Aah-!:
Sea Spray kept one optic on Phage-One while the back-and-forth firefight resumed. The moment her body spasmed and a trickle of vibrant energon cut a trail from her olfactory, Sea Spray attempted to flag Jazz down. Across the hall, Jetfire noticed first and clipped, "What's wrong now?"
"Leaking lubricants from her olfactory!" He rattled off. "Still locked up stiff!"
"Botched psychic patch?" Jetfire replied as he and Jazz took up return fire.
"Don't be a drone." Snapped Sea Spray gruffly, earning a glare from the larger mech. "If she'd fumbled it her brain module would have hemorrhaged cycles before now!"
"It's Soundwave." Jazz clamored. "Psychic attacks!"
"How do we help?" Shouted Spike.
"Find him!" Snarled Jazz.
"But hasn't Prime said before that Soundwave can use his abilities up to a two mile distance?" Questioned Bumblebee.
"That's the problem!" Jazz shot back. "Damn bastard could be anywhere! So find him or get her out of range!"
"Get her where?!" Yelled Spike, but Jazz only responded with more weaponfire and a denta-flashing grimace.
Sea Spray suddenly shouted. By the time Jazz glanced over he was appalled to find that Phage-One had leapt out into the middle of the hallway. "Sea Spray!" Jazz shouted needlessly. The M.T.O. had already dived after the femme in oncoming laserfire. The two were both hit as Sea Spray wrestled her back behind cover. She was screaming incoherently and writhing like a wild cyber-beast. "PIN HER!" Jazz screamed over the angry whine of weaponfire. "SEA SPRAY! PIN HER!"
Once Sea Spray had dragged her kicking and flailing back behind cover, he did just that by pinning both her arms above her cranium and dropping his weight on her right hip.
"-AAH!"
The dark, oppressive torture chamber resounded with Phage's shrill screams and the rattle of the thick chains as she balanced haphazardly on the tip of her pedes, suspended in the center of the circular room. She spasmed and shook in a desperate attempt to shake off Laserbeak. The mechanical bird had his claws dug into her right leg as he used his beak to tear at the muscle cables in her thigh, but no matter how vigorously he ripped her thigh apart, sadistically eager to separate her leg from her body, her passive regeneration kept healing the damage. There was no way to gauge the time, and Phage did not want to know how long the torture had been going on for, but the age ended when Laserbeak worked his beak under her flexi-metal flesh and tore out a chuck of the newly regenerated skin. The Decepticon torturer then did something he had yet to try during their long, grizzly session. Laserbeak swallowed her living metal flesh.
It was not the sight of Laserbeak rendering her body, or his energon soaked beak and talons, but of the mechanical bird eating her that made Phage snap. In an instant, dark memories Phage had buried for years within the twisted caverns of her mind came howling up to the surface. One look, and she was back in the cold warehouse in Washington, captured by the Insecticons, and helplessly forced to observe as they devoured the local townsfolk for energy to survive. One action by Laserbeak, and she could see the human blood dripping from Bombshell and Kickback's mouths, hear the crunch of bone, the rendering of flesh.
Immediately, Phage's fuel tanks churned over. Pulling against the chains that kept her suspended, Phage curled and hurled up the last remnants of energon in her system. Laserbeak did not fly off, but adjusted his hold on her leg as she twisted around. "STOP!" Phage screamed between heaving, hot tears cutting deeper trails down her face. "STOP! PLEASE!" The hyperventilation set in, broken, Phage gasped, "What do you want!"
From the area beside the door to the chamber, Soundwave materialized from the collection of thick shadows, yellow visor flaring. The Decepticon had loomed in the dark places of the torture chamber the whole session, quietly observing events and, possibly, recording everything as Laserbeak preformed his grizzly function. The moment Soundwave approached the pair, Laserbeak moved as well. The bird scaled Phage's body, his large dangerous talons finding purchase on the groves and creases of her armor. Broken half sobs spilled from Phage's throat as she kept one optic on Laserbeak and another on Soundwave's approach. Laserbeak ceased his expedition up her body when he came to find purchase between her shoulder strut and chassis. The bird's crimson optics borrowed into her as he turned his slim cranium to the side, eyeing her critically. It was then that her breathing came in erratic pitches, terrified of the energon-stained beak looming so close to her face. One glance at it and she wanted to break into fresh inconsolable tears. Perhaps the only thing that kept her from that was Soundwave's dark presence that loomed up behind Laserbeak. He was an arm length from the pair, yet Phage felt suffocated by his proximity. Neither spoke straightaway, but both continued to observe her with an indifferent, cold air as one would when studying a bug. The silence dragged on uncomfortably long until Phage snapped, "What do you want from me!?"
Laserbeak turned his cranium towards Soundwave, and she felt that the damn bird was smiling cruelly as Soundwave spoke at last. "Subject Phage will give up the Matrix location."
Her bottom lip trembled. "I've told you. Again and again, I do not have it!"
"That is not what I asked."
Her breathing hitched. Then her chassis trembled, and Laserbeak by proximity, as she struggled to swallow the fresh bout of tears that wanted to explode out. Instead, Phage gritted her denta and shut her optics. She drooped her cranium and shook it vigorously, her silver synthetic hair had long come loose of its braid and fluttered across her face in a wild curtain of flyaways.
"Subject Phage will give up the Matrix location or the session resumes."
Her denta flashed as she abused her bottom lip. "You'll kill me if I do." She breathed.
"Does Subject Phage want the pain prolonged or halved? Subject Phage will give up the Matrix location."
Despite herself, a broken sob slipped through her throat. "I ...I can't." Laserbeak's energon-soaked talon clicked off her breastplate and cut an angry blue line down her face, yet it healed as soon as it was made. Phage tried to jerk out of the talon's reach, but had no where to turn. "Please!"
"The Matrix location." Intoned Soundwave.
Phage did not recognize her own voice as it passed through her throat, hoarse from screaming and so very fragile. "The Autobots will hate me. I'll-I'll loose everything. My family..."
"You have nothing." Soundwave's words arrested Phage's attention. She felt she could not breath, let alone function as he talked. "Alicean Marie Witwicky is terminated. Subject Phage is but a poor facsimile of the Autobot human pet. Everything from your appearance to your splotchy memory banks is an imperfect replica. It was Alicean who had a family. It was Alicean who was aligned with the Autobots. The moment you came online you had nothing and stole everything from Alicean Witwicky. You, Phage, have nothing. Why else have the Autobots kept you under close observation? Why else did Alicean's close Autobot allies pull away from you? Because they knew you to be a facsimile. Even Optimus Prime. Especially him."
"That's not true."
"It is and you know it as truth. Example: how could Optimus Prime engage in explicit activities with his human pet, yet could not stand to be near you unless it is true that you, subject Phage, are indeed a facsimile." The longer Soundwave spoke, the louder the roar of her own lifeblood became in her inner audio.
"How do you know that?"
Soundwave ignored her and continued as though she had not interrupted. "Subject Phage owes no loyalty to the Autobots because you never had it. You have no family to loose, because, as an android, you never had one. You can betray no one, because you never had their trust or friendship. You were, and have been, the Autobot's prisoner since your activation. Between the Autobot's cold disposition to you, curtailing you to menial tasks normally given to drones, and using you for their own selfish means-"
"I am not being used!"
"The Badland Terrors."
Her face flushed a vibrant energon blue hue. She wanted to say a thousand things. Wanted to scream. Wanted to justify her relationship with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, but found her throat clogged up by a lump. She did not want to admit it, but the fragging was the backbone of her entire relationship with the Autobot Twins; not that she was saying the interfacing wasn't amazing but she wanted more out of their relationship than they were giving her. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were very selfish, egocentric, cold, distant and would often say cruel, callous remarks as throwaways and shrug off her anger when she would become mad. They would remark that she could not get angry when they were stating facts and that she should simply enjoy what they had while she was still alive...the Twins typical go to remark. Like the fool she was, she tried to rationalize their behavior and always ended up chalking the Twins defaults to serious, unresolved trauma brought on by their twaned outliner ability to regenerate. She understood that outliving everyone on a battlefield had to be severely traumatic, especially when it kept happening over and over again, and certainly played a role in the emotionally stunted behavior the two displayed, yet somehow she had convinced herself that it justified their mistreatment towards her.
"In nine million years, they have changed very little." Intoned Soundwave's unique flanged vocals. "Was subject Phage aware that they are Kaonites? Sparked in the same city-state as Lord Megatron?" Her dark optics found Soundwave as the mech began to steadily circle around her. "They were thugs and criminals, sentenced to the gladiatorial pits in Kaon for their crimes. Rather than terminating, their unique twaned outliner ability allowed them to survive and, consequentially, thrive. The Badland Terrors actually won their freedom twice over from the games before Megatron was imprisoned. They enjoyed the fame and amenities granted prized gladiators-something they knew they would have lost if they left the Pits. The war just gave them an excuse to continue their violence and feed their narcissist behaviors." The tall, boxy Decepticon stopped in front of her. "Subject Phage is just another tally in a long list. Laying claim to the only femme must be boosting their egos immensely. Why does subject Phage put up with it?"
She grimaced and hung her cranium. She had put up with them for a number of reasons, none of which she knew were good or valid; the only excuse that had a shred of ground was that her pool of partners was limited to the Ark; every Autobot would have emotional baggage attached that she would have to learn to put up with if she wanted any sort of companionship at all or be celibate for the rest of eternity. There had been several instances over the months where she wanted to break it off with the Twins, but every time she would reach a breaking point with them Sideswipe would bust out the charm, and like the idiot that she was, she fell for it every time.
Something's wrong...
Phage gritted her denta again and shook her cranium to clear the fog that had built up in there, her silver hair swaying vigorously with the motion. "How do you know I'm involved with the Twins? We kept it quiet." Soundwave said nothing, displayed nothing. The nagging voice at the back of her head that something was wrong would not leave her be. Slowly, Phage shook her head again, hoping to clear the cobwebs clouding her thought processes. "Your lot kidnapped me!" That was correct. "You attacked my mind!"
"Lord Megatron tried so very hard to pull you out of the fog. He tried to make you see the difficult truth, but you would not listen. When you chose to remain with the Autobots, Megatron had a moment of weakness. He could not abide to see you return to the illusion the Autobots had you wrapped up in. Lord Megatron asked me to prevent you from returning. To this day he wishes he had not been so rash."
Suddenly, a few things clicked into place for Phage and she had Soundwave to thank for that for reminding her of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker-gaslighting was gaslighting. A bitter laugh tore from Phage's glossa. "Haha! Really? Trying to make Megatron and yourself seem like saints, yet here we are. You torturing me." She was not sure how Soundwave did it, but his presence seemed to grow, become more oppressive and looming. Phage dug deep and found a well of untapped resolve. "Next time try wine and dining." She smarted off with a lopsided smirk, knowing full well she was about to regret what she was going to say next. "Followed by kneeling down and honoring me. You might find people are more willing to do what you want." The backhand that followed was swift, painful, but a sting she wore with pride and used to help bolster her resolve. Laserbeak cawed and fluttered about uselessly, his talons digging painfully into her armor to maintain his position as she jerked from the momentum of the slap.
"Note to self, subject Phage swift to recover from mental breaks. Buries trauma and discomfort with humor and conversation. Similarities drawn between subject Phage and Autobot Bluestreak. Do not allow repeat."
Phage glowered up at Soundwave between the flyaways. "Where are the Autobots?"
The vibrancy of Soundwave's visor dimmed to a narrow beam. "They are far from here where they cannot harm you."
"The one whose hurt me the most is standing in front of me."
The whole of Soundwave's frame seemed to tighten, not unlike a compressed spring. "Laserbeak." Soundwave did not have to complete his order. The Decepticon torturer cawed before burying his sharp beak in her shoulder joint and tearing at the cables. Phage's screams were quick to fill the chamber once again. It only stopped when Soundwave intoned the bird's designation once more. In wake of Laserbeak's latest session, Phage hung from chains, body atremble.
"Subject Phage will surrender the Matrix location."
"No." She said simply as a sense of clarity dawned over her. "What happened to the Autobots that came for me? How did I get in here?"
"Foolish sprite. There are no Autobots. There never was." Soundwave intoned in his lyrical way. "Subject confused. Still cannot tell the difference between reality and a fantasy?" As he spoke, his two omni-snakes slowly pooled out from the compartments in his waist. The long hacking appendages scrapped as they spilled out, telescoped and rose up above Soundwave's towering frame. The three pronged latches opened wide like a gaping mouth and from the center of each extended a long hacking spike. Soundwave's tone shifted from mocking to insidious. "Have I shattered your mind already with my implanted illusions? So soon? Do you not recall that the moment you arrived at our humble seabase you have been enjoying our hospitality?"
He can't have been torturing me for hours...! "You're lying!"
"Matrix location."
"I was taken to a cell!" Phage continued to shout at his masked face defiantly, angrily.
"Here we are."
"No! Another! I don't recognize this place! After the cell I was taken to speak with Megatron, but he held it at a bar-"
"At a bar?" Echoed Soundwave. "Recall what you just said. Lord Megatron held an important meeting with a prisoner... in a bar? Then what, served you drinks? Subject Phage, consider the ridiculousness of that situation. It was one of my implanted illusions. A false reality. An attempt to get you to give up the Matrix location. Such tactics usually work, but you have proven to be stubborn and obnoxiously loyal even to those that do not receipicate the gesture. Why suffer for them? It is clear your sanity is cracking. I daresay if I push further, you might shatter."
"It was real!"
"You having drinks with Megatron in a bar." Tsked Soundwave. "Subject Phage, you must be more gullible than I imagined if you believe such a frivolous conjuration."
"But..." Her speech trailed off as her mind spiraled, desperate to backtrack events to find any flaws. False memories? What was real? How long had she actually been in here? Where was Optimus Prime?
Her breathing became hard and labored. Laserbeak and Soundwave's very presence bore down on her with an impossible intangible weight. The chains rattled as she tried to alleviate the pressure off her wrists, to no avail. She had been strung up in such a way that she was left to dance on the tip of her pedes. Relief was an impossibility. "This isn't real! This is the illusion! A false memory! A-a deception!" She sneered. "Just like before, at the cliff! You're trying to warp my thoughts! Get the fuck out of my head, damn it!"
Soundwave tilted his cranium ever so slightly towards Laserbeak. "It seems subject Phage has suffered a break with reality. Shame."
"I will not fall for your gaslighting bullshit!" Shouted Phage angrily. "You're attacking me psionically! I'm in a firefight in a hallway! The Autobots are with me!"
"A severe break." Corrected Soundwave. "Note, typical methods were too severe for the transorganic."
Phage gnashed her denta as she glared defiantly up at Soundwave. "I can hear the laserfire, aft!"
A terrible, dreadful silence consumed the torture chamber. In the absence of the rattling chains, of her screams, she could distinctly hear distant gunfire rat-tat-tapping beyond the heavy door. Once she was aware of it, once she knew Soundwave had heard it, Phage began breathing heavily. "This...this place is a fabrication within the mindscape. A prison. I won't drink the water your pushing. What the hell do you want with me? Really?" Demanded Phage.
"To suffer." Soundwave admitted suddenly, the brute, simple honesty floored her. "For Frenzy. For the humiliation you've dealt upon me not just once, at the cliff, but again today by trying to slip Optimus Prime pass me and again when you toppled me at the bar. You think you're so crafty, little sprite, but the turbo-fox is arrogant and is always caught in the end."
"Fuck. You."
"Laserbeak-"
"Nothing you do to me here is real!"
Soundwave canted his cranium at her. His full faced battlemask was but an eerie blank stare. "The pain is. Laserbeak," resumed Soundwave, "take subject Phage's optic."
Phage's attention jumped to Laserbeak. A shriek split from her throat as the psionically conjured Laserbeak, energon-coated beak and all, reared his cranium back, then struck at her optic...
The shriek-turned scream followed her from Soundwave's inception-induced prison back to the mindscape. Phage cut it short as she was dragged forward, caught herself on all fours on a Cybertronian surface and spent the next moment gasping as she tried to center her reality. Above her, Optimus Prime had yanked the omni-snake off her face, stomped on its body, and severed it in a single, fluid motion. :Phage! Are you alright?:
:What the fuck was that!? There was this torture chamber! It felt so real! I felt like I had been there the whole time!:
Fending off the odd omni-snake as the rest of the hoard slithered back into Soundwave's fog, Optimus Prime aided Phage back to her pedes with his free servo. Once she had described what she had gone through, Optimus's rage was palpable. :You dare, Soundwave!:
:Displeased I share Purgatory with others, Prime?: Mocked Soundwave's avatar. Optimus Prime's optics burned with an intense fire, but Soundwave was no more intimidated by Prime's display than a passing breeze. :You cannot be angry with me. It is your fault. Do you know why I attacked her, Prime? Because she is defenseless and I know well from past experience that your avatar is not the core of your identity. It is but a simple avatar. An old trick. Your real consciousness is the city-sphere. It seems every time I visit you reinforce, Prime. You are so shut off. Afraid of me?: A dark electronic laugh punctuated the Send. :Catching you unawares is such a chore, Prime, but Phage...the little sprite is easy pickings.:
Optimus's servo clenched hard around Phage's own before he suddenly shoved her away. :Phage, go!:. Came Prime's growl of a Send. :Get to the city. I'll cover you.:
Phage stumbled before catching her balance. :What?:
:Get to safety.: Insisted Prime in his rough, commanding tone. :Soundwave is right. You are too exposed!:
:She could never run fast enough.:
Optimus whirled around quickly. :I disagree.:
:Oh?: Mocked Soundwave who then suddenly, and without further word, held up his servo, open palm. Optimus and Phage stiffened, both realizing what was to come next from personal experience.
:No! Not again!: Phage cried out.
:Soundwa-: began Optimus Prime but the telepath closed his servo into a fist. Immediately, a lance of pain stabbed through her brain module as if someone had driven a dagger through her cranium.
:Suggestion: Yield.:
Phage doubled over, clutching at her cranium as the pain crippled her while Optimus Prime grimaced and powered through the pain. One step, two, he marched forward, back to the Undersea and into the Fog, his familiar bridge of Cybertronian script and burning code appearing underpede and dispersing the fog where it appeared. Soundwave watched his progress carefully and withdrew deeper into the fog as Optimus encroached. Phage tried to push forward, tried to mirror Optimus Prime and flank Soundwave's avatar, but she made it all of two steps before her avatar dropped to her knees, clutching at her throbbing cranium.
:Phage! I said drawback!:
:I want to help!: She grit through the pain. :It's my head!:
:You can't!: Snapped Prime. :Fall back!:
:But-:
:I SAID FALL BACK!: The shout of a Send hit her like a storm. She flinched against the impact, so mentally unused to the muscle. :Phage!: Optimus called after her, ashamed that the force of his Send had hurt her, but remained firm. :I am sorry, but you need to retreat.:
:Her stubbornness is enduring, isn't it, Prime?: If her avatar could draw real breath, it would have caught in her throat. Furtively, Phage cast her gaze to Prime and found he was deliberately ignoring her. How much had Soundwave overheard before he swiped her, Phage worried privately.
Soundwave studied Optimus Prime critically as he waded onto the Undersea and into the midst of the fog. Prime glared him down as the two began to circle each other, wisps of fog stirred as they mirrored one another, both echoing an ancient dance transcendent in cultures. To each of Prime's carefully measured steps, Soundwave's was a cocky swagger that expressed that he was in his territory. His domain, and Optimus was but a traveler in over his cranium. :Why so nervous, Optimus Prime.: Again the mindscape filled with Soundwave's electronic laughter. :Observation: she makes you nervous.: Soundwave announced abruptly. :You have hesitated all these years because you see similar qualities to someone else you let get too close. She is intelligent. Driven. Passionate. ...Angry.: Optimus's optics narrowed to cool fiery slits. Still, he Sent nothing. :Question: You look at her and who do you see? Suggestion: the longer you have walked beside her along the road the path must be getting clearer.:
As the two circled, Phage gingerly tried to overcome the migraine from hell, tried to be strong and reclaim her footing. She made it half off the ground when another sharp motion of Soundwave's servo dropped her back to her knees as another violent stabbing pierced her brain module. Phage shrieked and grew exponentially enraged at her inability to assist. Meanwhile, Soundwave's avatar radiated a certain glee at the control he exhibited over the both of them.
:Phage!: Shouted Optimus Prime, worry racing across his exposed optics. :Hold on! Please! ...Endure just a bit longer!: A second time her avatar, and by extension her aurora borealis thought patterns, seized up at the implied meaning behind Optimus's use of the word endure. Bent over as she was, neither Optimus Prime nor Soundwave could see how the dark blue of her optics faded to black and reignited in twin acidic pools of green.
:Megatron.: Soundwave announced as if they had not been interrupted. :She is walking Megatron's path.:
Optimus's attention snapped back around to Soundwave. :No.: He Sent straightaway, firmly, flatly. :Phage is not.:
:Counter: Take the observation from someone close to him. Compare Lord Megatron's early history and you will be forced to admit the truth. Clear as the light you Autobots cherish. Do not believe me- Challenge: reflect back, Optimus Prime.:
:Phage is not-:
:-Is not capable?: Interjected Soundwave, and with a flick of his wrist Phage's own words filled the mindscape, echoing in the cavernous environment as he called them back from memory. 'I could get creative for the both of us.': Phage's optics widened in growing horror, the acid green of her pupils expanding outwards to encompass more of her optics. She looked frantically between Soundwave and Optimus Prime's avatar. Soundwave's yellow visor glowed warmly. :Shall I pull up other more recent lines? All filled with such anger and aggression and savagery. Ironic, coming from the femme who once fought for Cybertronian rights on Earth. Ironic, that her path mirrors Megatron's own origin. Recall, he too fought for our rights. He too, became angry. Ironic that you, Optimus Prime, refuse to see what is right in front of you. Phage belongs with us. She would make an excellent Decepticon-just as you once did.:
Phage's desperate optics sought his out. No Sends passed between them, and to Phage's growing anxiety, she could not detect any sliver of judgment from Prime. That wall worried her all the more. :Optimus...do you really think I'm like Megatron?:
:No.: Optimus, unperturbed, Sent tersely, then to Soundwave Sent, :You present this to me as if I am supposed to be shocked, Soundwave. As if my audios are virgin to the bitter and grieving wails of my cogsmechs. As if I have not heard the best of mechs break down to their weakest points in moments of privacy and express their rage. It does not define us unless you allow it too -and Megatron did. He chose his path long ago and continues to choose it every day. And every day I wish he would turn away and remember who he use to be.:
Optimus!, thought Phage in wonder.
:Since you seem to have forgotten this fact let me remind you, I am Optimus Prime.: He clipped and glared. :My own servos are far from clean.:
Whether it was the brunt acknowledgment of honesty or that his attempt at manipulation had been so pour, Soundwave stalled at Prime's Send. He floundered to counter quickly and Optimus seized on the hesitance. In a burst of the familiar fiery Cybertronian script and code, Optimus Prime's avatar deconstructed, sizzling out in a shower of golden motes of ashes and abruptly, to Soundwave's horror, rematerialized in a blaze of the same golden script atop the telepath, already swinging his bardiche in an arc. Soundwave had little time to react, and barely had time to dodge, but dodge he did with a backward bend that saw the edge of Prime's bardiche scratch Soundwave's glass panel. The ensuing conflict was fast-paced, with Optimus keeping Soundwave on the defensive with a vicious flurry. The telepath was hard pressed to find an opening to strike and turn the tide of conflict in his favor. With Soundwave so indisposed, Phage had time to recover and access the situation.
:Phage! Run!: Sent Optimus desperately as she scaled to her pedes, the migraine from hell having lessened with Optimus distracting Soundwave.
:No!: Shouted Soundwave. His servo snapped up to perform another psionic attack, but he had to pull it back just as quickly or risk his arm being severed by Optimus Prime's bardiche. He stumbled backwards through the fog, his balance thrown off by Prime's attack.
:I prefer the silent you!: Needled Prime as he kept up a flurry of offensive attacks that forced Soundwave further away from Phage and deeper onto the dark waters of the Undersea.
An electronic, lyrical roar ripped through the mindscape that Phage understood to be a scream of frustration from Soundwave. So harried, Soundwave Sent abruptly, :I know the truth, Optimus Prime!:
To his credit, Optimus kept up a series of swings that Soundwave was hard pressed to dodge as they bantered back and forth. :What you know is irrelevant. It is evident Megatron is already aware of the reformate.:
As he ducked low to avoid a swing that would have severed his cranium from his frame, Soundwave's visor flashed mockingly. :More than you realize. There will be no place you can hide her, Optimus Prime.:
From Soundwave's Send, Optimus disassembled the underlying data and it hinted towards Phage's designation. He tried to ignore the wave of anxiety that washed through his circuits. If Megatron discovered Phage's actual function... :So Megatron has already stated.:
The glow of Soundwave's visor narrowed to a tight beam. :I know of subject Pandora Endurus.:
He tried not too, but cold dread coiled in their fuel tanks. Optimus's next swing was in poor form. And so, Soundwave struck. His omni-snakes restrained Prime's transformed arm and held it fast. The second omni-snake lashed out and constricted his second arm when he tried to tear the first off. From there, the omni-snakes forced Optimus Prime into a spread eagle position and lifted his avatar into the air. Somewhere back on his Cybertronian shores, Optimus Sensed Phage scream his designation.
With an air of arrogance, Soundwave approached, drawing further out from the fog and hovering beneath Prime. :Shame Prime, broadcasting such sensitive information within the confines of your enemies base, knowing that I am always listening...:
:Soundwave!: Beseeched Optimus Prime, :You cannot inform Megatron! The fallout would rival the tragedy of Hot Shot! No, worse than the Star Saber Campaign!:
:It is too late.:
:No!:
:Yes. Imagine the advantage any mech would have if they knew who a Bearer was before they arose. If Megatron had known you were one before you rose? If the charged photonic crystal that Phage possesses is as similar to the Matrix as you propose-:
:Optimus!: Frustration swelled throughout all of Prime's consciousness upon hearing Phage's internalized voice scream across the mindscape. He pressed his optics closed in dismay before glancing towards the shores where their two halves met. Soundwave too, gradually canted his cranium in her direction. Though the telepath's avatar possessed the same full face mask as his living self, the aura pouring off his avatar was of a starving wolf scenting a plump prey. Phage stood alone on the banks, waving her arms above her cranium to gain their attention. :I'm sorry!: Phage continued to shout Send.
Prime's mind reeled at her disobedience before his temper exploded towards the surface. :I TOLD YOU TO RUN!: Once again, Phage flinched under the intense barrage of the Send, but did not back down.
:And I told you no, it is my head. Come on, Soundwave! What are you waiting for? You were just bragging how you want to make me suffer! Come on then you bastard! I'm right here!:
Unable to stop him, Soundwave moved towards the banks with a predator's hunger. Where the telepath moved, the fog spread, soon leaving Optimus strung up in the air by the omni-snakes far behind and struggling to break his restraints. Soundwave seemed to glide across the Undersea, moving with the ethereal speed of something unholy supernatural.
:PHAGE!:
Around Soundwave, his hoard of omni-snakes writhed in and out of the fog like ghostly phantoms. :Vorners are such a treat.: Soundwave's Send dripped with sick pleasure. :Always with the sense of invincibility. Always a delight when they break. And they always do.:
:PHAGE!: Optimus continued to shout, his internalized voice rough and raw. :RUN!:
Soundwave and the fog were nearly upon her when Phage finally flinched and held up her servos, open palmed, before her in a standard act of self defense. Curiously, the mindscape sharply exploded with vibrant color and the screams of war. No matter which direction Soundwave turned, his senses were assailed by one battlefield overlaid with another and another and another until each had become a cacophony of mass, jumbled limbs. The landscape was of Earth, there was no denying the backwards, savage alien world, nor the masses of flesh that were distinctly humans. But every human was with a different army: roman solider, spartan warrior, Viking raider, Egyptian charioteers, Gaelic painted barbarians, samurai, British archers, medieval knights in clanking armor, and on and on and on until it was a visual mess. Every which direction Soundwave was splattered with hot human blood that reeked of iron. Soldiers and women and children fell dead all around, all vanishing under pede. War cries and curses and screams echoed into the infinite expanse of the mindscape in every living and dead language on Earth. The whole production was a haphazard phantasmorgia that could have only been brought on by a fevered mind. Overwhelmed by the sensory overload, Soundwave immediately recoiled from the phantom assault and backpedaled onto Prime's half of the mindscape.
As suddenly as the phantom assault had begun, all mismatched fantastic theatre vanished, save for one. Soundwave dropped his arms from his cranium when it was apparent the noise had dispersed, and curiously found himself staring not out towards the Undersea, but into an ornate hearing room comprised of stone and marble. The telepath remained rusted to his spot as a horde of human men approached numbering around sixty, appropriately his size given their avatars and the mindscape, each garbed in long blankets and sandals and belts. It took Soundwave's senses too long to reboot to realize what was about to happen until after the first flash of steel drove itself into his frame. Then another, and another and another and another...
The omni-snakes holding Optimus Prime hostage exploded into an array of rippling neon blue sound waves. Optimus dropped to the Undersea, but his specialized bridge appeared shortly underpede before he had the chance to drop into the waters. By the time Optimus looked up, the imprint of Julius Caesar's assassination had been closed. The imprint memories hovered far overhead, out of view unless one happened to glance up.
:You sprite, Phage.: Whispered Prime just before his attention was arrested back to Soundwave. The Decepticon blocked his view of Phage, when he could glimpse her it was flash of her teal and white armor, or an arm or leg, but the telepath stumbled about haphazardly, his servos shaking as he grasped at twenty-three phantom stab wounds that had dealt real physical pain to his frame. Horrific gasping kept spilling from his avatar as he shook and spasmed. Optimus Prime began running back. :Using the imprints like that, luring Soundwave to you so he could take the brunt of the psychic damage instead of you...You clever, clever sprite.: Trembling violently, Soundwave stumbled further up the banks onto the Cybertronian firmament. Phage still dodged and danced behind his frame in and out of view, little snippets Optimus caught as he rushed back. He was nearly there when it struck him that there was something wrong with Phage. A tight knot of dread had just closed its icy digits around his spark when Soundwave's chest grew a spear.
Optimus came to an abrupt halt. His optics doubled in size as he watched Soundwave's avatar give a last dreadful gasp. The telepath's servos wrapped wonderingly around the energon-soaked spear, before his frame violently pitched forward, having been kicked forward. Before Soundwave hit the shoreline, his avatar flew apart in a series of fluorescent neon blue sound waves. With Soundwave's control disrupted, the fog bank gradually dispersed, but in absence of the telepath there settled an uneasy quiet over the mindscape. Optimus Prime's focus settled on Phage's avatar left behind. The little smirk on her face grew as she lowered the spear and straightened up, her avatar glitched then, blue optics burning green as the avatar shifted and reformed. The avatar that took Phage's place was and was not her.
The exotic, savage femme opposite him twirled her spear smartly between her digits before slamming the butt end into the ground. Optimus openly gawked at the new avatar that recalled the voluptuous physique of an Earth woman, particularly Alicean-Phage's robust frame, but the design of the armor and the accentuating pieces of her vehicular form made it all the more pronounced. Coupled with the restless omni-hair that coiled and weaved in and out of itself, the illusion of a chrono-displaced Cybertronian from his planet's savage prehistory was fixed.
Intuitively, Optimus Prime understood who he had to be addressing. :Pandora...Endurus?: The voluptuous beauty leaned into her spear, her digits curling loosely around the shaft. Half hooded, acidic green optics and lips the shade of freedom red, the same shade as his armor and the Autobot sigil, smiled back at him. Optimus cautiously dismissed his bardiche in place of his servo and Sent guardedly, :That was a clever trick. I have never considered using imprints as a weapon before.:
A haughty smirk quirked her lips. :It was clever, wasn't it. Though the technique is old, tried and true-appear weak when you are strong.: When Pandora Endurus's carefully articulated, silken Send reached Optimus Prime, he marveled at the change between Endurus's and Phage's stumbling treble. :Do you suppose he'll return soon?: She Sent casually, her sharp green optics roving to Soundwave's last spot.
:Soundwave?: Rumbled Optimus Prime's resonant Send. :No. Not likely. When I have routed him in the past with such efficiency, he is usually offline for quite some length of time.:
:Good!: Snapped the Endurus as her optics flared angrily. :Sick bastard deserves all that he gets for violating the sanctity of peoples minds the way he does. I was lucky the first go around, and now again that you were here-Optimus Prime, will you quit circling. You are driving me fairly mad.:
The Prime stopped, his pedes landing on his Cybertronian firmament, and Sent brusquely. :Apologies. Old habits.:
:Hm.: Chimed the Endurus as she lifted one fine optical ridge his way and Sent flatly. :I am not your enemy, Op.:
He visibly flinched at the familiarity with which she used his nickname, reserved and permitted by only a handful. It was strange coming from Endurus's voice, but the look she sent his way and the way she said it was entirely familiar. :Phage...?:
:Pandora.: She corrected straightaway, but the confidence quickly gave way to a small shred of uncertainty as she brought her digit up to her bottom lip and Sent, :...I believe. Yes?: The visual cue was so reminiscent of Phage that Optimus visibly relaxed and permitted himself a small, rare smile. :Yes.: She decided with finality.
:How did...?: Optimus Prime's Send trailed off, but a meaningful gesture towards her frame finished the question for him. Pandora Endurus straightened to her full height and sent him a layered look. :You asked me too, Prime. It just wasn't until Soundwave was threatening you that I found the focus I needed to toss all my old fears to the side and rise up.:
:That was all?:
Pandora squinted at him with curious bewilderment. :What do you mean, was that all? Wasn't it that simple for you?:
:There was a spiritual journey, an acclimation stage, and eventual ceremony.:
As Optimus gave the driest of explanations, Pandora's features scrunched up with peculiar fascination. :Oh...How quaint.:
Her flippant response prickled him the wrong way. The Prime glowered and moodily Sent, :I am going to have my servos full with you, aren't I?:
The Endurus's lips pulled at each corner into a large, mischievous smile that complimented the glint in her optics. :Maybe.: The underlying data of her Send was awash with promise. :But I believe in you. You did say that you handled half of Cybertron through the best and worst of times, and that you could handle little ol' me.: