Chapter 8
Titan's tower
Guest- Don't worry, Soundwave will get a rematch with Lockdown. Moping the floor with him? We'll see.
As Cyborg was monitoring the health of both Soundwave and Robin, the latter was stubbornly refusing to look at the former, he began to think on what happened several days ago. Robin, in an act that Cyborg can only place as stubbornness or stupidity, disguised himself as a new thief and began a crime spree in order to gain Slade's trust. Not only that, but Robin didn't consult them in the first place. Sure, they would have disagreed with it, but they would at least have the insurance that their leader trusts them enough to tell them with whatever questionable plans he comes up with. Now, because of this crazy plan of his, Robin got injured by a robotic mercenary and they finally caught the mysterious hero that has been plaguing Jump City for some time. After they all recovered from the effects of the Puppet King, Raven and Starfire told them all about the mysterious hero. It, of course, came to a shock that the hero was a machine, but they really shouldn't be surprised since there's a myriad of heroes in all shape and sizes in the Justice League. Upon hearing all about the mysterious hero, now known as Soundwave, Robin decided to meet him face to face and try and recruit him into the Titan or at least see if he's really a hero or not. Now, with him and Soundwave in the same room, he has all the opportunity in the world to do so. Only, Robin isn't willing to do so due to his near death experience from a machine known as Lockdown, whose name was provided by Soundwave, as well as Slade knowing his plan all along and using him. He's also been moody to anyone else, demanding them to leave him alone. It's been several days and he's still moody. Cyborg sighed before leaving, hoping that this will end soon. Upon noticing Cyborg leaving, Soundwave looked at Robin.
"What?" Asked Robin with gritted teeth as he noticed the Cybertronian looking at him. He then looked at Soundwave's faceless visor and immediately got some shivers up his spine. There was something about that face made him feel violated or fearful of his life, like Soundwave knew all about him, but he pretended he didn't. Upon looking at the visor, he sighed, getting what he's trying to convey. "I wanted to figure out what Slade is planning. So, I made the guise of Red-X to gain his trust." Soundwave stares more intently if it was possible. "*Sighs in irritation* I didn't tell my team, of course, because I needed Slade to believe it wasn't me in the suit. Lot good that did. Slade figured it out and I'm stuck here for a while." Soundwave, satisfied, went back to looking blankly at the air.
Soundwave wasn't against Robin's plan, not at all. In fact, he would have done the same thing if he was placed in his shoes. But what he would have done is inform his team, if he had one, about the plan so that there wouldn't be any inconveniences, like if they offline him or capture him, running the whole plan. Another thing he would have done differently is to be more patient. By that, earn a reputation first, be more ruthless to the titans, and not instantly work for Slade. The first mistake Robin potentially made was instantly showing up and offering Slade a deal from out of nowhere. Slade, if he's as smart as Soundwave believes he is, would have pieced the clues together and figured out Robin was Red-X. He then would play Robin for a fool and have him continue stealing so as to have him do the work for him. Another mistake was saving Beast Boy. Such an act would have clued Slade to who Rede-X was as Robin was known to be protective of his teammates. A bit too much. Plus, the tech Robin used in the suit was a bit too high tech for any normal person to have. All of this compromised his cover and Slade played him for a fool. But what Soundwave was surprised at was the sudden appearance of Lockdown, who was thought to be dead by every Cybertronian after the Exodus.
The bounty hunter earned himself a reputation for siding with the Decepticons over the Autobots because of how much they paid or how he thought the Decepticons would triumph in the end. Plus, there was the fact that a certain Autobot wrecker tried to arrest him on numerous occasions. He's also known for getting the job done no matter what the cost as seen in the battle of Titus, where the entire civilian population was killed off for one Autobot commander. Eventually, the bounty hunter was confirmed, or rather assumed, killed when an explosion engulfed his ship during a skirmish with several Autobot ships. Soundwave then examined the scars that were left behind during his fight with Lockdown. He was astonished with how powerful Lockdown has become over the years. Back during the war, he wouldn't have stood a chance against him, which was proven true after Soundwave beat the tar out of him for disobeying direct orders from Megatron. Now, it seems, the bounty hunter has wised up and was deadlier than before. He then heard the door open to reveal Raven coming out to check on both patients. The titans, having to continue their duties to their city, decided to rotate between who checks up on the patients and the like. Raven, seeing nothing was wrong after checking a monitor, sat next to Soundwave. She eyed him suspiciously before reading a book she brought. A few minutes passed before Robin spoke.
"How much longer?" Asked Robin, eager to get out.
"One more day." Said Raven dryly and with a hint of anger. Hearing this made Robin wince, but he understood why. The other Titans were no doubt in the same boat due to him not informing them of his plan, which undoubtedly damaged their trust in him. Soundwave stayed silent for a few moments before looking at Raven. Seeing this, Raven looked at the mysterious machine. There were some arguments on what should be done with him, but in the end, they agreed to keep him here for information. "What?" Asked Raven, raising an eyebrow. The faceless Decepticon stayed silent, actually creeping out Raven, before pointing at the various machine hooked up to Soundwave. He was completely healed, yet there was various machines hooked up to him. He understood what their purpose was. It was to determine what he's made out of and what he actually is. Raven, seeing this, just shrugged before going back to reading. Seeing this, Soundwave grunted before going back to do nothing.
A few minutes passed before Soundwave resumed to look back at Raven, who just finished her book. Seeing Soundwave was watching her again, she sighed before looking at him. "What is it?"
"Why are you still here?" Asked Soundwave, knowing that he had to speak to get her to listen.
"To keep an eye on both of you." Said Raven, referring to Soundwave and Robin. "The others are out fighting crime so I'm the only one here."
"No, I meant why are you still here. Tending to us." Clarified Soundwave as he gestured to himself and Robin, who was pretending to not care about the conversation, but was actually curious.
"Even someone like me desires to socialize with someone every now and then." Said Raven as she looked at Soundwave's visor.
"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind answering my questions." Seeing her nod, he continued. "Are you playing to send me to prison after all this?"
"No." said Raven. "Despite your shadowy nature, the fact that you contributed to this city's safety, we decided to keep you here until you're ready to go. Plus, Starfire wanted to see if you wanted to join the Titans." Raven said the last part with some reluctance. Hearing this, Robin looked at Raven with disbelief.
"Are you guys serious?" Asked Robin, almost yelling. "We know next to nothing about him and you want him to join."
"True, I was against it at first." Admitted Raven. "But, after piling all the evidence for him, Beast Boy and Cyborg were all for him joining. Plus, the fact that he saved us, arrested so many criminals, and potentially saved your life form Lockdown. Also, didn't you want to see if he was actually a hero or not?" Robin, seeing that she was right, grumbled before speaking again.
"But doing this without consulting me." Said Robin. Unfortunately, Raven heard this, and spat back.
"You didn't tell us your plan so, why should we do the same?" Asked Raven, glaring at Robin, who flinched at the reminder of his mistake, effectively shutting him up. Seeing that Robin wasn't talking, she looked at Soundwave. "Though I'm somewhat still against it, I'm willing to give you a chance if you want to join us. However, we're willing to accept whatever your answer is." Soundwave stayed silent. He began to calculate the data given to him before giving his answer.
"I believe it would be better if we were separate entities so as our foes would deal with two entities instead of one." Said Soundwave, not wanting to give the real reasons for wanting to stay separate from the Titans. One thing was that he couldn't spend much time in the Sovereign. Another was that he would have to explain why Jake, his holo-avatar, wasn't there when he was there and vice versa. Something that would create some distrust with the Titans. The final reason was that he felt that this would give an advantage against the villains of Jump City. They wouldn't expect two groups attacking them at the same time. Raven, anticipating this, just nodded.
"I thought that you would do something like that." Said Raven. "Well, you're free to go now. We just wanted to have you stay for a bit."
"So, you could examine me." Thought Soundwave before getting up, ripping the various hooks and cables that were connected to his body. "I still have a few questions. Where's my drone?" Asked Soundwave, pointing to the socket where Laserbeak was normally at.
"I'll take you to it." Said Raven, getting up. The two then left, leaving Robin alone for awhile. The two walked for some time before Raven spoke again. "You care for this drone?" Asked Raven. When Soundwave talked about his drone and noticed that it was missing, she immediately sensed a bit of distress emitting from him. It wasn't the type she thought it was. It was the type of distress that came from when someone noticed something that they cherished was missing or in danger, something that Raven didn't suspect from Soundwave. It was like he cared for his drone, more than what most people would do for equipment like that. Soundwave, deciding to indulge her, complied.
"Yes. It's…the last thing I have to a set of drones that I used to possess." Said Soundwave with a hint of sadness and regret. Hearing this, made Raven blink in surprise.
"I'm sorry." Said Raven. She never intended to give Soundwave relapses of bad memories.
"It's alright. I got over it." Said Soundwave as the finally arrived to where Laserbeak was. He clutched the drone, flattering a bit, before inserting him back in his socket. "Thank you for not doing anything to him." Said Soundwave, checking Laserbeak for any foreign data or bugs.
"It's yours not ours. No matter how much Cyborg wanted to examine it, we felt that it wasn't right to do anything with it." Said Raven, surprised again at the care Soundwave gave to the drone. "You seemed awfully attached to the drone. Was he a gift?"
"No." Said Soundwave. "He's just a close friend that helped me many times." With that Soundwave began to leave, but not before Raven passed him a communicator so they can converse with each other.
"Call us if you need any help." Said Raven as the two walked out of the tower. Soundwave simply nodded before walking away via a ground bridge, something at surprised Raven. Once he was gone, she went back to check on Robin, who was now getting up. Seeing this, she looked at her leader. "You sure about this?"
"Positive." Said Robin as he got up. "I need to start gaining your trust again."
"It'll take time for that." Said Raven.
"I know." Said Robin before leaving, wincing every now and then. Seeing this, Raven sighed before helping her leader walk. Just when the two entered the living room, the alarm rang. After placing her leader on the coach, she rushed to a terminal to see what the disturbance was. Upon seeing it, she cursed. The Hive were out terrorizing a small bank and they were too far away from the other titans, who were also solving other crimes, for them to do anything against them. And with Robin still recovering from his injuries, it looks like that she'll have to do this along. After informing the others of the robbery, as well as ordering Robin to stay behind to heal, she quickly teleported out of there and to the scene of the crime. Once there, she immediately went into action by throwing a desk at Gizmo, knocking him out as he didn't anticipate the Titans arriving so quickly. Upon seeing their teammate being taken out so easily, Mammoth immediately went into action by charging at Raven while Jinx waited for an opening. Once he was close enough to the Titan, Mammoth slammed his fists to where Raven used to be. Unfortunately for him, Raven was gone via phasing through the floor. She then emerged behind him before throwing him across the room. Jinx, seeing that Raven was temporarily preoccupied, fired a wave of energy at her, catching her off guard. As she was recovering from the hit, Mammoth threw a part of a wall at Raven. It crashed into her, resulting in her slamming to the opposite wall with a thud. Coughing out some blood, Raven looked up to see Mammoth charging at her. Before she could do anything, Jinx fired a concussive blast again, distorting her. Just as Mammoth was about to slam his fists into her skull, a car suddenly arrived and slammed into him. The car swerved around, creating drag marks. It then, to everyone's amazement, began to transform to reveal Soundwave, only in a much larger form. Seeing the carnage before him, Soundwave transformed one of his arms into a blaster before aiming it at Jinx.
"Surrender now and I promise I won't shoot." Said Soundwave as he got ready to shoot. Seeing the odds were stacked against them and a want to not face the giant with guns that can one-shot them, Jinx and Mammoth reluctantly raised their hands in surrender. After shaking off the shock of seeing a jumbo-sized Soundwave, Raven created a forcefield around the three criminals. After making sure that the forcefield wouldn't be easy to destroy, Raven walked to Soundwave, who was getting ready to leave.
"Thanks." Said Raven as the robot turned around to the Titan.
"You should be more careful." Said Soundwave as he kneeled down to the human. She pursed her lips, gauging the size difference between them.
"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Commented Raven, wondering what else Soundwave had up his shelves. She had better report this to the others. Soundwave simply nodded before transforming again. He was about to leave when Raven stopped him. "You're just going to leave?"
"There are other criminals all over Jump City. Someone has to stop them." Said Soundwave. "Is there anything else you require?"
"Actually, I was thinking of a team up." Said Raven as she got closer to Soundwave. She narrowed her eyes when she realized his car-form was exactly like Jake's own car. "So, I can gauge your combat prowess."
"And to build trust." Stated Soundwave as a side mirror turned toward Raven, who nodded in response. Seeing that she wasn't budging from this decision of hers, Soundwave opened the door for the shotgun seat. After she got in and buckled up, Soundwave drove off to wherever crime was. Meanwhile, Raven was contacting the others what happened as well as reporting the capture of the Hive and to get ready to escort them to prison. After doing so, Raven looked at the interior of Soundwave. Honestly, she believes this is just a larger version of Soundwave that he can control remotely, but she felt that wasn't the case. The movements were too fluid for any machine he could make without anyone noticing and she seriously doubt that Soundwave was a part of any corporation that had the technology to do so. She then noticed Soundwave was being eerily quiet. A bit too quiet, even for her.
"Something wrong?" Asked Raven as she looked at the moving steering wheel, a bit creeped out at it moving without anyone holding it. Upon getting no answer, she retorted. "Not a conversationalist, are you?" Upon hearing no answer again, she huffed in amusement. Apparently, Soundwave wasn't much of a conversationalist like her. "So, are you controlling this thing or us this the real you."
"The real me." Said Soundwave as he continued to drive. "If I trust you and your team enough, I'll indulge you more about my kind. But for now, just know that my kind are called Cybertronians and this is our usually size." Raven nodded in understanding. Soundwave wasn't sure that the Titans can be trusted, but he also needed to give them something in order to gain their trust, so he just gave information he deemed harmless. It's something that she or Robin would have done.
"You can trust us." Said Raven. "The Titans are always there for those in need." She cringed at saying that cliché sentence. Now, she was acting like Beast Boy. Soundwave just stayed silent, but he was secretly amused, before stopping to a crime in progress in a store. Upon seeing the crooks, Raven got out and allowed Soundwave to drive off into an alley. He soon came back, but in human-size. "You can do that?" Asked Raven with a raised eyebrow.
"It's not a usual thing for my kind. I can only do it because I have a device that allows me to do so." Explained Soundwave before transforming his hands into blasters. "These guns are set to stun, so you don't need to worry about them." Deciding to trust him, Raven nodded in understanding before walking with him to confront the criminals. Right when they entered the building, Soundwave instantly fired his hand blasters, taking out two crooks instantly. He then fired again, taking out two more, while the rest were recovering from the sudden attack. After taking out a third pair, the rest began to take cover behind some pillars. Seeing this, Soundwave and Raven got ready in case they decided to shoot as they spotted some of them holding guns when they entered. Just as they predicted, the goons with guns opened fire, causing Raven to raise a barrier as a response. Deciding to allow Raven to take the rest out, Soundwave motioned her to finish them off. Raising an eyebrow at this, but also understanding what he was saying, Raven used her other arm to telekinetically grab some cash registers and then threw them at the gun-holding goons, incapacitating them. With their main threat eliminated and seeing that the remaining thugs were surrendering, Raven lowered the barrier. Unfortunately, one criminal, in an act of either stupidity or insanity, threw a grenade at the heroine and Cybertronian. Seeing the incoming grenade, Soundwave grabbed Raven and shielded her from the blast. Fortunately for him, his shields managed to take the damage. After a few seconds of silence, Soundwave let go of Raven, who was recovering the shock of everything. While she was pulling herself together, Soundwave began to tie hurdle the gang of criminals in a circle, his blasters pointed at them. Soon, Raven recovered and tied the gang up with her powers. After ensuring that the gang wouldn't break free, Raven ran up to the retreating Soundwave, who was currently leaving the scene. After calling out on him and seeing him stop, she began to speak.
"Thanks for saving my life." Said Raven with an impassive face though inside she was grateful for the save. The grenade would have undoubtedly severely wounded her at best or even killed her. "I owe you one."
"I'll keep that in mind." Said Soundwave before going into an alley. He then went back to his original size before transforming and driving off. As he was becoming a speck in her vision, Raven couldn't help, but smile. He was slowly, but surely, gaining her trust.
Few weeks later
New Zealand
In the streets of a city in New Zealand, a girl with light gray skin and spiked, black hair with red bangs was walking down with a bag of food. Her attire was a black dress with a red skirt with black strips. She also wears long, black sleeves and black boots with a bit of red coloring on the bottom. She had a small 'A' tattoo on her chest, and her eyes are red with black pupils. She was getting some looks because of how she looked and dressed, but the girl didn't care. She was humming contently to herself as she walked down to a police car. After getting in, the police officer on the wheel then drove off. It eventually stopped in an abandoned junkyard, filled with various part. What was unique was that some of the parts were extremely high-tech and that there was a high-tech computer hidden in some junk. After the girl got out, the policeman disappeared before the car began to transform into a robot. This robot was a bit bulky, but not too much to impair agility. His left arm had a six-barreled gun that circled the entire wrist. His right carried to pistons on his wrist. Both of his hands carried brass knuckles, but rather than the usual design of brass knuckles, these had a simple plate that had the words "PUNISH" on them. His circular head had four eyes instead of two and they glowed red. He had no visible mouth, but that soon rectified itself, when some plates moved to reveal a mouth. The robot then looked at the girl as she placed the groceries in an active refrigerator. When it realized that she was taking her sweet time, it began to tap its foot impatiently. Hearing this, the girl turned around and stuck her tongue out at the robot, who growled at the rude gesture. Soon, the girl was finished and turned around to the robot, her hands on her hips.
"Don't you know how to be patient?" Asked the girl with a smirk.
"I do." Said the robot before turning to the large computer the junkyard had, throwing away trash that got in the way. "It's just that I don't like it when someone intentionally wastes time. Especially, if something important came up."
"Yeah, yeah." Said the girl, waving a hand. "So, what's the really important thing you wanted to tell me?" The robot simply brought out a picture of a newspaper headline. The girl squinted to see what it was. She was pretty sure that it said, "New hero of Jump City discovered! Soundwave has emerged!". The girl frowned at the headline. "What so important about this?" Asked the girl.
"It's important because another of my kind is here." Said the robot before turning to the girl. "If this Soundwave is who I think it is, then it's important for me to establish contact with him."
"So, you're leaving?" Asked the girl, though she acted stoic about the whole thing, the machine detected a small break in her voice.
"No, you're coming with me to the states." Said the robot as it went back to the screen. The girl, upon hearing this, widened her eyes.
"Whoa! The states!?" Asked the girl. "But we're in New Zealand! It'll take more than twelve hours to get there by plane! And we can't take one because of you!" Yelled the girl as she pointed to the robot. The robot simply grunted before speaking.
"Relax. We're taking the trip by boat. Though it'll take some time to procure the funding for transport." Said the robot.
"Because of you?" Said the girl.
"*Sighs* Because of me." Said the robot. The girl smiled in victory before walking out the junkyard.
"Well, have fun with that. I got crime-fighting to do." Said the girl. Hearing this, the robot turned to the girl.
"Oh no you don't, young lady." Said the robot. The girl glared at the robot for calling her young lady, but the robot ignored it and transformed into a car. "You're not going alone. You're my responsibility and I intend to keep you alive until you're ready to be on your own."
"And when's that?" Demanded the girl as she got in the car.
"When you become twenty." Said the robot before driving off.
Who is this bot? And who's the girl with him? Anyone's guess? Anyway, sorry for the late update. I've had...complications.
