Chapter 6
WhiteWolf815- No worries. I'm okay with criticism as long as it's not too harsh. Plus, I know my writing is not the best there is. And after thinking about it, I think I should make thoughts sentences be italic and bold to make it easier to understand which is thoughts and what is not. Also, the cloak thing...I'm going to have to re-do that.
Guest- Well, Laserbeak certainly, but no Ravage or any other of Soundwave's cassettes.
"This was actually pretty fun." Thought Soundwave as he and Raven were drinking tea in a quiet café in Jump City. The café was dark and mysterious. Just what the two wanted and liked in a restaurant. The two had a surprisingly good time together. They went shopping for some of Raven's favorite herbal tea and some of Soundwave's favorite human music. They even went to go see a play of Macbeth, a rather tragic story they both liked. If it can even be called that, their time together could have been called a date, but it wasn't. They didn't hold hands together, didn't kiss, or even exchange some romantic words between them. They just watched a play, and get some things they needed. Still, he rather liked what they did together, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Raven liked it as well. Raven was sipping a cup of tea when she suddenly placed it down and looked at Soundwave.
"I have to say, today was…great." Said Raven dully. She never had anyone to go out and do the things she wanted to do, while also liking them as well. It was refreshing from what she was used to back at the tower. Soundwave nodded and drank down his tea, his holo-avatar absorbing the liquid and converting it to energy. "You don't talk much, do you?" Soundwave nodded. "Can you talk?" Soundwave nodded again. "So, you just choose not to talk. Why?" Seeing his shake his head, indicating that he doesn't want to talk about it, Raven nodded her head in understanding. "Alright, if you don't want to talk about it, I won't force you to do so. So, were you excited to be around a titan for so long?" Seeing him shake his head, and pointing at her, left Raven confused at his meaning. She raked her mind for possible answers and get the most logical. "You just wanted to hang out with me?" Seeing him nod, made her stomach flutter a bit.
"That's... interesting." Said Raven. "Anything else you wanted to talk about." Soundwave stayed silent for a moment before shaking his head. "Alright. Well, we better get back." Said Raven as she got up. The two then walked back to Soundwave's real body. As Soundwave and Raven were rummaging the trunk for their stuff, their hands briefly touched each other, making them look at each other in surprise. Raven blushed at the incidentally hand touch before shrugging it off. She then grabbed her things and looked at Soundwave. "I had a great time with you. Here's hoping that we'll see each other again." She was about to leave when Soundwave grabbed her arm. She looked at him to see him holding out a small sticky note. She grabbed it and saw a number and address for an apartment on it.
"You want me come visit or call you?" Asked Raven, looking at Soundwave, While doing so, she couldn't help but admire his looks. He wasn't too bulky, but also not too thin. A fair completion and a rather good-looking set of eyes. He was just right in her eyes. Seeing him nod, made her snap out of it. "Alright, if I ever need someone to talk to, besides the titans, I'll visit or call you. But, just in case you want to call me, here's my number." Said Raven, she then whispered her number in Soundwave's ear. "Sorry for not having anything to write it on. When we met again, I'll write it down for you." With that, Raven disappeared by using her powers. Soundwave looked at the ground where Raven was, before deactivating his holo-avatar and driving off. As he was driving, he couldn't help but think of Raven. Though he didn't get much, he did get information about her likes and dislikes. It wasn't much, but he liked having some relevant information about Raven. He also managed to get on her good side. Something that will be needed in case, the titans found out about him. If he could get them to believe he was good, they'll foolishly let him in their ranks, giving him access to their files and weaknesses. And should the need arise, he can easily eliminate them. Though, he wondered if he should. Their deaths will result in the Justice League finding him out and destroying him. At the very least, Batman will want his head when he finds out about Robin's death. So, it appears they'll live. For now. But, another part of his mind says to spare them and join them as an ally. That thought made him stop for a moment for resuming his driving.
It wasn't a bad idea, but one with problems. For one, his ideals at handling villains will clash with those of the titans. If it wouldn't have caused an investigation, he would killed all the criminals that he fought against in the past few months. Still, it would result in help in both getting him back home, and to get some help in finding a source of resources to convert to energon as the underground lake he found was nearly exhausted. Plus, he couldn't help, but want to interact with Raven more. She was…interesting to say the least. The way she looked was attractive without being too suggestive. She was dark, honest, and on the point on what she believed in. And he had to admit, her eyes were captivating. These thoughts were then pushed back when he realized that he was alone. He then activated a ground bridge and was soon back into the Sovereign.
A few days later
Soundwave was currently busy with playing an online game when he received a call from Raven. Curious, he accepted the call, wondering what she wanted.
"It's me." Said Raven over the line. Soundwave just gave a grunt of acknowledgment. She huffed in amusement before cutting to the chase. "Did you send the titans a package of dolls." Soundwave was surprised to hear this. He never sent anything to the titans, and even if he did, he wouldn't have sent dolls. He was about to answer when Raven spoke. "If you did, just give a grunt." After waiting a minute, Raven realized she got her answer. "Well, thanks for your cooperation, though I wished that you'll speak with me." She then cut the connection. Once she did, Soundwave began to review the mail history for the titans. Once he found the box containing the dolls, he got suspicious. There was no information about who sent it and why. He suspected that one of the titan's enemies might have sent the package in an attempt in attacking the titans when they're guard down. Call him paranoid, but he didn't survive the great Cybertronian war by not suspecting everything. He attempted to find out, who sent, but to no avail. Concerned for the titan's safety, he decided to spy on the titans and the dolls in case something happened. With that, he hacked the titan tower's security systems and began to watch all the security cameras in the tower in case something happened. He's been doing this all day and night until he gets sick and tired of watching the titans wasting their time in playing video games or other pointless things. He couldn't stand Beast boy's jokes either. They were just…bad. He was about to call quits when he noticed a shadow coming near Beast Boy with a device. He then watched as some sort of green…ectoplasm came out of Beast Boy and into his doll. He then watched as Beast Boy woke up with blue, lifeless eyes. He then followed the shadow while also picking up the doll. Soundwave, upon seeing this, was intrigued and shocked at what happened. He rewinded back to Beast boy's eyes and inspected them. They were a lifeless blue, unlike the optics of the Autobots. He also seemed to be possessed of sorts. Worried about the safety of the titans, Soundwave ground bridged near the tower, but also turning off the security, so not to alert the intruder.
He shrunk himself to human size, turned his right arm into a Subsonic repeater, and proceeded into the tower. He accessed the titan's security systems and found that the mysterious person had just managed to do whatever he did to Beast Boy to Robin and Cyborg. Now worried about Raven and Starfire, he proceeded into the floor where their rooms are. Unfortunately, by the time he got there, they were already being attack by their friends, who were now acting like zombies now. He also noticed that there was, strangely enough, a puppet dressed like a king. He was about to attack when he noticed Cyborg grabbing the two female heroes. He also noticed the puppet holding out a device. As he saw the device drawing out something from Raven and Starfire, the same thing he saw from Robin and Beast boy, he knew that he had to act. Acting quickly, he fired his repeater at the puppet's hand holding the device, destroying the hand and causing the device to scatter away, and forcing whatever that came out of Raven and Starfire to be brought back into their bodies. The two were still, however, unconscious. So, Soundwave fired a disruptor round at Cyborg, causing him to drop the two heroines on the ground. He ran to the heroines, but was stopped when Beast Boy, not a raptor, crashed into him and snapped his jaws at him. Annoyed by this sudden surprise, Soundwave unleashed his tentacles at the Beast boy, grabbing him and throwing him to Robin, who was about to throw small explosives at him, forcing the two to the ground with a thud. He then got up and charged at Cyborg, who fired a sonic blast at him. He dodged it easily, and smashed his fist at Cyborg's head, causing him to fall to the ground.
Now unhindered, he grabbed the two heroines and immediately got out of there. He accessed the tower's systems and found a secure location in the titan's garage. Immediately, he ground bridged there and, after arriving at his designation, he instantly locked down the garage. He then laid the two heroes carefully and waited for them to wake up. Soon, they began to stir. Raven woke up first, holding her head as if she had a margarine. She looked up and gasped when she saw Soundwave. She instantly grabbed him with her powers, the black aura encasing him, and throwing him to the wall. Soundwave made a grunt in annoyance as he tried to tell her that he comes in peace.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Asked Raven as she approached Soundwave. At this time, Starfire also began to stir.
"Oh, friend Raven. What is happening?" Asked Starfire as she began to wake up. She then noticed the situation at hand. "Who is this?"
"That's what I'm trying to find out." Said Raven as she glared at Soundwave. "Talk!" Upon reviewing the odds of convincing them without talking, Soundwave immediately decided his course of action.
"I am Soundwave." Said Soundwave, surprising the two girls at how deep and mechanical his voice was. "And I'm here to help you. I'm not responsible for what happened to your friends. I noticed something was amiss when that package arrived to you. So, I investigated. I learned that someone deliberately sent that package to attack you. As a result, I came here to help you. However, I was too late as it seems your friends are under some sort of hypnotic trance by that puppet." The lie was laced with some truth, but not everything. Right now, was not the time to be suspicious or angry at each other. And his hacking of their systems, will no doubt cause both.
"Really? Then, you're a hero?" Asked Raven, suspicious of this machine's attentions.
"*Gasps* You are that mysterious hero. Aren't you?" Asked Starfire. Seeing him nod, Starfire immediately defended him. "Friend Raven, perhaps we should let him go. He had done some good for the city, did he not?"
"Starfire, I'm not sure if this is that hero. Even if it is, we should still be cautious. He didn't do anything to earn out trust." Said Raven.
"Then let me earn it. Trust is an easy thing to destroy, but hard to gain. So, let me prove that I am worthy of your trust." Said Soundwave, eager to get going to defeat the puppet. Raven looked hesitant, but upon seeing the pleading look from Starfire, and the fact that her friends are in danger, she relented.
"Fine, but you better not back-stab us." Warned Raven.
"I had no intention of doing so." Said Soundwave. Raven looked at him suspiciously before walking to the exit. Seeing this, Soundwave instantly lifted the locks of the garage, allowing them to leave freely. The three then proceeded to carefully investigate each room, both for their friends and the puppet. It was during this time that Soundwave fully realized the situation. The villain was called the puppet king, and that he used the dolls of the heroes as a form of soul carrying device, allowing him to take control of their bodies as his own puppets. He appreciated the villain's plan. It had more gains than simply the elimination of the titans. Just because he was on the opposite side, doesn't mean he can't respect his foes.
"Mister Soundwave." Started Starfire, eager to have a conversation with their new ally. "Are you here to help us?"
"Yes." Replied Soundwave as he aimed his gun at an empty room, thinking that the bodies of Robin, Cyborg, or Beast Boy were there.
"Then, why does friend Raven not trust you?" Asked Starfire.
"She's…not a very trusting woman." Said Soundwave, starting to get used to talking again. "She wants proof that a person can be trusted. And she wants it done with their actions, not their words. So, until I earn her trust, she is not willing to trust me."
"If it helps, I trust you." Said Starfire with an innocent smile. Soundwave looked at her for a moment before resuming on walking. He never thought he would see another innocent smile again. It's been so long since he witnessed one. Back then, there was no war, but civil unrest. Cybertronians were doing poorly, left to defend themselves, as the higher castes ignored them and began to squeeze the poor of any value they had. That was why he joined the Decepticon cause. To create a just Cybertronian society, even if it meant Cybertron must be destroyed. He was swept away from his thoughts when Raven snapped her fingers at him. He looked at her and saw her raise a finger at both him and Starfire before urging them to follow her. The three then began to quietly walk to the living room of the tower. They quietly entered the room via a secondary door. They saw the puppet king holding the puppet that contained their friend's souls over a bowl of green ooze. They also noticed that the bodies of the other titans were there as well, standing guard over their master. They were about to attack when the puppet king spoke.
"If it wasn't for that mysterious hero, I would have captured your friends. Though, I suppose your bodies will suffice. Plus, I can acquire their souls later. For you three, however, I plan to destroy you all right now. It is fortunate that bounty hunter convinced me to this along in case something like this happened. Otherwise, that hero would have prevented me doing this in the first place." Said the puppet master. He was about to drop the three puppets when Raven caught them with her powers. Starfire then engaged the three bodies of her friends, careful not to hurt them too much. Meanwhile, Soundwave was surprised to hear that a bounty hunter was involved in all this. He shook off his surprise and grabbed the puppet with his tentacles. (AN: Don't get any ideas.) The puppet, however, upon being captured just had a grin on it's face. Soundwave was confused at this until the puppet brought out a device. A Cybertronian device. He then threw it at Soundwave, who was too shocked at the fact that this puppet had a Cybertronian device with him. The device latched onto his arm and began to shock him and his systems. Pain coursed through his systems as warning messages appeared all over his head's up display. He attempted to remove the device himself, but the pain was so great that he could barely move his arms.
So, with great effort, he ejected Laserbeak, who went out in a hurry to help his master. Upon seeing the device on Soundwave's arm, he fired a laser at it, destroying it. Relieved of the pain, Soundwave instantly fall to the ground, drained as the device sapped most of his energy. The puppet, meanwhile, was looking at the battle before him. His puppet were losing badly to the heroine, now two as Raven managed to get her friends somewhere safe and joined the fight. Seeing the battle was lost, the puppet king grabbed his controller and make an exit. Laserbeak then began to pursue the puppet, leaving Soundwave alone to recover. After a few moments of recovering, Soundwave shakily got up to observe the battle. He was the body of Cyborg fire a shot at Raven, who shielded herself with a black wall, before being attacked by Starfire, who threw Beast Boy at him. Robin was about to attack when Raven fired a blast at him, knocking him out. With the three boys incapacitated, Raven encased them all within black balls of energy. Soundwave then limped toward the girls, his self-repair systems kicking in. Along the way, he picked up the remains of the device that incapacitated him, intending to examine it later.
"Where's the puppet king?" Asked Raven, wondering where the puppet is.
"Escaped, right after incapacitating me." Confessed Soundwave, struggling to talk.
"Are you injured gravely?" Asked a concerned Starfire.
"I'll be fine." Said Soundwave. "What about your friends?" Raven then looked at the bodies of her friends, studying them.
"I suppose I can bring them back to their bodies." Said Raven after a moment of thinking. "But, it'll take some time to do so." Soundwave nodded in confirmation.
"Then, I'll leave you all to your business." With that Soundwave began to leave in order to find Laserbeak. He didn't take a few steps when Raven called out.
"Soundwave!" The mentioned Decepticon looked at the young sorceress, wondering what she wanted. "Thanks for the assistance back there. You saved our lives and those of my friends."
"Does this mean you trust him?" Asked Starfire excitedly.
"Not yet, but he's definitely getting there." Said Raven.
"That is all I ask of you. To give me a chance." Said Soundwave, nodding his head in thanks. With that, the Decepticon left the room to go find Laserbeak. He went up and down, in circles, and in different floors until he found Laserbeak, damaged in the floor. Concerned for his pet, he crouched down to pick him up and examined the damage. The damage wasn't too serious, and Laserbeak's repair systems were already working to repair the damage. What concerned him, however, was that he was damaged with. The damage matched with damage that was consistent with that of a Null ray rifle, a Cybertronian sniper rifle. Fortunately, Laserbeak only got a glancing hit, otherwise there wouldn't be much of the bird left. It did, however, still concerned him. An less paranoid or suspicious person, would have assumed it was just a weapon that caused similar damage to a Null ray, but Soundwave wasn't most people. The damage was too consistent with damage caused by Null ray blast. Which means either puppet king somehow got a Null ray, which was illogical given both the weapon's size and the puppet king's own, some Cybertronian weapons somehow made it to this dimension, or that another Cybertronian was in this dimension as well. If there was another Cybertronian here, then he'll have to get to the bottom of this. As he ground bridged to the Sovereign, he suddenly had a bad feeling that things were about to get worse.
Meanwhile
Somewhere in the docks of Jump City
The puppet master was currently at the docks of jump city, talking with someone in the shadows. As he was talking to the mysterious figure, the puppet king seemed angry and nervous.
"You promised me that if the mysterious hero came along, that device would help me! And look what happened! The titans are still alive, and the ones that I did capture will soon be back in their own bodies! Explain!" Yelled the puppet king. The mysterious figure simply stayed silent during the whole rant. Once the puppet king was done, he spoke.
"I had no idea that this mysterious hero was Soundwave. I will admit, had I known it was Soundwave, I would have given you more than just a shock bomb." Said the figure. "Still, if you had been more competent and not monologue during the time you had those three titans, you would have still had their bodies still. If anything, it's your fault for failing and not gaining anything out of this." The puppet king looked enraged at what the figure was saying.
"I would have succeeded if you had just participated more! If you had been in that fight, the titans would be no more!" Yelled the puppet king.
"Perhaps, but that was not my internet yet. Plus, you didn't pay me to do so. I just came along to see if the mysterious hero would come and save the titans. And he did. Now, our business is concluded." With that the mysterious figure began to leave. The puppet king was about to go after him when there was a sudden flash from where the mysterious figure was. Enraged that he didn't get to talk with the figure more, the puppet king was about to leave, when suddenly a sports car smashed the warehouse's doors and stopped near the puppet king. The car then began to shift and turn as it became a robot. The puppet king took a step back as the robot was finished transforming. The robot was a good 10 meters tall, was black in color with grey as a secondary color. He had red optics, a rectangular face that went down to a large chin. He had spikes on his shoulders and his long neck. Finally, he had a hook for a left arm.
"Sorry to say this, puppet, but I can't let you leave here alive. You know too much." With that, the robot turned his right arm into a shotgun. "Don't take it personally." He then fired the shotgun into the puppet king, destroying him and his controller to bits. "It's just business." With that, the robot transformed into a car again and drove off. While he was driving, the robot began to think of Soundwave and began to chuckle.
"The Deception communications specialist, helping organics? Never thought I see the day. We'll meet again Soundwave. To bad, it's on opposing sides. Villains pay well, and I love being paid well." Said the robot before driving off into jump city.
There it is. Now, to answer inevitable questions, I'm going for the slow approach for the romance between Soundwave and Raven. I believe with these two, they'll need time to get used to each other, a couple of good interactions between them, and also some moments of just the two alone together. Also, can anyone guess, who that Cybertronian was? Also, yes, there will be other Cybertronians.
