Location: Nevada Desert

Soundwave

Instead of floating in the blissful sea of oblivion, Soundwave was in agony. Too much. Too much pain to be one with the All Spark.

He was still alive, but he had no inkling as to how. What was taking his termination so long? He felt like the gravity of a black hole had stretched him, smashed him into atoms before spitting him back out.

Somewhere far away he heard voices. It wasn't the familiar Cybertronian dialect. This was human speech. It's meaning illuded him. He assumed his translator was yet one more thing broken in his body, hence why the distant voices were only gibberish. It wasn't logical. He shouldn't be hearing human speech. His Decepticon comrades had located him. He should hear his own language, surrounded by the Nemesis' medical staff.

His damaged condition could contribute to him imagining humans talking nearby… or there was the chance he hadn't been found by his fellow Decepticons at all. Autobots irrationally kept the company of humans. Was he behind enemy lines, drug out of the Flux Space to be used as a hostage or purged of vital information? He hadn't seen who had opened the dueling Groundbridges that freed him. Either scenario was a possibility.

He still couldn't move or get his optics to come online. Panic began to fog his processor. He had been captured by the Autobot's before, but even strapped to an interrogation table, he had been in control. He was unshakable, immune to whatever meager torture the Autobot's could muster.

This time was different. He had no access to any of his files, scanners, or even his sight. If the Autobot's wanted to probe his mind for information that could compromise the secrets of the Decepticons, this would be the time.

In the darkness came the chirp of his loyal minicon, Laserbeak. At first, Soundwave was relieved. He had his familiar companion close. He wanted to reach out and touch them, seeking comfort. Then he became anxious again. If Laserbeak was there with him, then they were both prisoners, and the chances of escape were significantly lower.

A surge of hot energy pumped through his veins. With it came clarity. Energon. He was being infused with the precious life-giving substance. It was bringing him back from the brink of death.

A hint of light came through his visor, teasing his optics awake. He tested his digits, willing them to close and open weakly. His scanners still didn't work, but this turn in events was promising.

His vision returned suddenly, and he struggled to understand his surroundings. No Autobots, or even a structure encompassed him. Earth's blue sky stretched overhead. He wasn't restrained by anything but the weakness of his own chassis.

A sharp sensation cut into his upper torso, and his helm lulled over to see the current source of his discomfort. Despite what he saw with his own optics, Soundwave couldn't quite make sense of the small human staring back at him.


Reha

Reha dropped her welder when the larger Cybertronian named Soundwave moved. His blank face turned to behold her, and she saw her own startled and fragmented reflection in the dark cracked screen that made up his face. They observed each other in a moment of perplexed stillness, neither daring to move.

Soundwave jolted first, managing a weak thrash to get away from her.

Portions of his seemingly unbending metal body shifted piece by piece. The process stalled with a harsh grinding sound, not accomplishing whatever it was meant to when Soundwave smashed back into the dirt. Blue pools of Energon spread under him, leaking from newly ripped veins.

"Stop! You'll bleed out again." Reha tried to point out. Her words went unheeded. Soundwave couldn't get back up, so instead he drug himself away like a wounded animal.

Laserbeak whooshed by Reha's head to get to his panicked friend. To her amazement, Laserbeak's body changed. It folded into itself after landing on Soundwaves torso where they connected with metallic clicks.

Soundwave froze the moment they were linked. Whatever Laserbeak had done to calm him, it had worked. Soundwave's face was unreadable, but she almost sensed disbelief when he turned slow to look at her again.

She pulled the transistor radio from her belt and held it out. "I intercepted your SOS. I'm trying to help you. I promise, I'm not going to hurt you." 'As if I could,' she thought as she continued to try and reason with the massive metal creature before her. "You need to stop moving around. You busted open Energon lines I just sealed. We only have a bit more Energon here before we have to get more."

Soundwave didn't respond beyond his blank stare. Reha took the silence as a cue to continue. Her heart hammering in her ears, she retrieved the welder from the ground and approached.

Soundwave remained where he was, and she brushed away her intimidation. She felt his gaze, but she carried on with her work to reseal the wounds on his body. He didn't protest her actions, which made things easier.

She glanced up occasionally to see if she was still watched. He never turned his head from her, scrutinizing her work. The Energon fumes had her dizzy, but she powered through.

She sealed another large gash in Soundwave's flat arm, brushing a curious hand across the purple insignia that was present on both his shoulders. It was raised from the rest of his metal arm, giving her fingers a pleasant texture to brush over. Laserbeak brandished the same insignia. It must have meant something important.


Soundwave

His processor was spinning when he laid optics on the organic creature, its small frame stained with his Energon.

Humans were no threat under normal circumstances, but this was far from normal circumstances. He was defenseless, and survival instinct put the small amount of new Energon in his veins to good use. He tried to shift into his arial form to get off the ground and away from the organic creature. His body protested the transformation with a jolt of pain, and he collapsed.

His helm was swimming, the Energon in his veins heavy and making the world spin. The feeling wasn't pleasant, like the euphoric high one would get from High Grade Energon enjoyed on Cybertron during the Golden Age. This felt like half processed Energon that his body was struggling to utilize properly.

His peds still worthless, he crawled to get away. The human was screeching at him, but the meaning of the words was still foreign.

Laserbeak's buzz jolted him. They connected, and information poured into his consciousness within moments. Memory of everything that had happened from Laserbeak's perspective appeared in his processor.

He had lost consciousness after they escaped the Flux Space, and Laserbeak managed to keep him alive with sustained shocks. Despite seeing Laserbeak's factual report, Soundwave had a hard time believing what he saw next through their connection.

The anomaly he had picked up while in the Flux Space, had originated from a human? More than that, this same human managed to decode his SOS, and create a sufficient dueling Groundbridge to open a means for him to escape? How was even one of those facts possible, let alone the entire series of events?

The same human responsible for his and Laserbeak's survival approached him. He studied them carefully. Aside from an exceedingly small welder, they weren't armed with anything that could damage him. They were small, even despite being part of a miniscule race to begin with. Their flesh, Soundwave thought it was called, was a dark brown color, like a shineless copper. Thin shoulders and twig appendages. They appeared female. Their helm was covered in a tangle of black fibers that seem to adorn most humans. The human female had a primitive device in their clutches. It beeped with the same signal he recognized while in the Flux Space. It was indeed the same source he had been tracking.

The human female spoke. His translator was still damaged, but through Laserbeak's own translator he understood. They reported the same thing Laserbeak had. The human had found his signal, freed him, and saved his life.

Why? What did this small organic creature have to gain from saving him?

"Motive irrelevant," Laserbeak pointed out in their shared mind.

Soundwave knew the minicon was right. This was their only chance for survival. Desperate times called for swift and drastic action, no matter how previously unthinkable.

He didn't move, allowing the human to weld his bleeding wounds closed. He ignored the sting of repairs and watched. The human worked swiftly despite his scrutinizing gaze. Soundwave shared his supply of half processed Energon with Laserbeak. He spotted the rudimentary distiller said Energon had been processed in. The crystal had only half melted down, leaving larger particles that would normally be filtered before ingestion. No wonder he felt terrible. But it was better than nothing.

Now that he was out of the Flux Space, he tried to send out a signal to the Nemesis. He realized quickly he couldn't get any kind of feedback. That meant the ship was far from Earth's orbit, possibly beyond the solar system. Without the ship, Soundwave didn't have access to any of its technologies, scanner's, or communication channels. Once repaired, he would begin work on a transmitter that could send out a strong enough SOS for the Nemesis to pick up, no matter its location.

A small sensation on his chest, brought him back to reality. The human female was touching him, far too close to the hole Skyquake had caused. Right over his Spark Chamber.

Despite his aching limbs, he pulled both servos up to cover his chest, shielding the intimate life source from the human's probing. The human went off to tend to some other wound with little protest. Despite the organic's ignorance, Soundwave was offended by her carelessness. She had almost touched his Spark. Internally, he shuttered at the thought.

Though he had stopped the human from getting any closer, the gaping hole in his chest was a problem that needed immediate addressing once he was functional enough to take over repairs. There was a massive tear in his armor, exposing his Spark Chamber. With such a wound, any small threat could destroy him. Never in recent memory had Soundwave felt so vulnerable.