Soundwave hears the signal they agreed upon, and finds relief where there had only been a numb, cold fear before. The distant kind, the sort that wears you down, until you've worn down your nails from the scratching.
Whatever happened, at least one of them was well enough to call for him. Both of them were alive, albeit in need of a rescue. Their plan was working. So far, so good.
He sees them move past him, into the underpass through the mountain. Three mecha. The scout, Bumblebee, was potentially dangerous but far less so than the other two. Optimus Prime is strong, but the one to watch is Megatron.
To see Megatron like this, toothless, bound until he twisted himself inside out just to breathe, is something that lets out that visceral sense of disgust that's been building within Soundwave since the moment he saw him last.
Optimus Prime is of no importance, the leader of a faction that hides itself from their allies, too weak to stand a threat on its own.
And yet that worthless scrap has taken his cassettes.
The fury within him builds, embers flaming from sparks into an inferno, the all-consuming rage that threatens to drown his sense of reason.
He can feel the two of them, robbed of the ability to transform. Trussed up like a feast for GHOST to devour. They gave it their best, but their best meant little in the face of those infernal devices. Horrid pieces of machinery built by people who didn't understand how they felt when they were used. Or maybe they just didn't care.
A mech with a vehicle mode could still move, despite the anchor these 'restraining bolts' placed on them.
Cassettes… couldn't. No chance to move, to fight, to flee. Just a single hit and they were so, so vulnerable.
If there'd been another way– but no. If there was, he'd already tried it.
Now. To set his cassettes free.
He sends an electromagnetic pulse through the rock of the tunnel, hopefully shorting out whatever is keeping them still.
He sees them burst out of Optimus Prime's trailer, and they run past him to safety, the way they planned to.
There's a ringing in his audials. He can't breathe from his anger. And yet, this was his plan. His plan. He'd underestimated what seeing Megatron would do to him. The danger he'd need to place them in.
These two Autobots. They really weren't prepared, are they? One, two steps and he's close enough–! He blasts them away, sending them flying out of the tunnel. His way is still blocked by the trailer, but that's easy enough to take care of. Another blast and it's gone.
With the dull, unsatisfying sound of it being caught.
Ugh. Megatron again.
Soundwave is confident though. His cassettes are by his side, and none of these three look like they've seen even a minor scrap in years.
"Soundwave." Megatron breathes.
Soundwave has had enough. His cassettes can deal with him.
"Attack Megatron." He orders them, and they do.
"Do not make this personal, Soundwave." Megatron calls out, and Soundwave seethes.
"It already is." He hisses, palms up as he aims a double blast at Megatron, before hastily dodging a swing by Optimus Prime, who'd nearly snuck up behind him.
His cassettes twirl around Megatron, evading and threatening him in equal measure.
Soundwave provides them with some cover fire against the scout – Bumblebee – who was just about to shoot at them, before Optimus Prime hurls that big axe of his in an overhead swing right at Soundwave's head.
Soundwave catches the axe between his hands, using sound waves to prevent his own hands from burning in the heat, then blasts Optimus Prime back.
Some other mecha show up, but they're clearly not Decepticons. One he recognises. Arcee, a pain to deal with at the best of times. Not necessarily because of her strength, but more the sheer persistence she could field.
Behind the overturned trailer, Soundwave grabs Optimus Prime and slams him down into the ground, readying a blast to hit him right in the head.
He's interrupted by a mass of yellow, Bumblebee, who had indeed been behind the same trailer, now that he thought about it.
Despite the scout's interruption, the problem takes care of itself, as he overbalances and promptly trips over the rail separating the road from the cliff below.
Better make sure though, he thinks as he transforms to swoop down over the now-trapped mech.
From behind, he can hear a familiar battle-cry, and he has to keep a careful hold on his flight controls to prevent him from plummeting straight into the ground with Arcee landing harshly on one of his stabilisers.
The hits she then gives him as he attempts to knock her off are not appreciated.
And– sure enough, there comes the rest of the group. Optimus Prime and Megatron, right on time to present that 'united front' that Autobots always seem to prefer.
"Megatron." He greets. The other two that remain, with Bumblebee scrambling back up the cliffs, are not worthy of his regard.
"Soundwave, surrender." Megatron says. "And I will see you are well-treated."
He will not. He cannot. He will never surrender to the Autobots.
That Megatron would dare even suggest it– no.
He's got a recording that seems oddly fitting. Once, he'd never would have been able to imagine using it like this. But that was long ago.
"This is not freedom." He plays back.
"You dare use my words against me?" Megatron demands, and follows up with a punch that Soundwave blocks.
Arcee's advance on the wall is quickly taken care of with a simple pulse that crumbles the rocks above her. A blast to push Optimus away, and then a dash forward to take care of that problem once and for al–.
A heavy blow to his shoulder knocks him off his planned course, and he rolls back up onto his feet to face Megatron once more.
It feels like the world slows down. He feels more than sees the cannon powering up. He almost takes a step back, the faint memory of debilitating pain that came so close to taking his life once. He's trained for this though, prepared himself to face that fear. He doesn't flinch.
A single word, carefully chosen, a pointed finger, accusing, and the barrel points away from him, powering down.
The word feels heavy in his mouth, a brand that will never heal.
"Autobot scum." Soundwave says, unwilling to bend. His anger given form once more.
It's only Optimus Prime's intervention that saves Megatron's life this time.
"Megatron is a better protector of our kind than will ever be." Optimus Prime says.
The words mean nothing to him. 'a greater protector'? His protection was gone when they needed it most.
Instead, Megatron is responsible for a majority of Decepticon suffering right now. They both are.
"We are more than Autobots, Soundwave." Megatron says. "Would you like to see how well I work with my new team?
And that. That is enough. It feels like some old thread just… snaps. He's not going to wait and listen to this whole spiel if he has anything to say about it.
He's going to– he's going to–.
He's going to do nothing. Because he's not going to compromise his plans just because he feels off-centre.
The Autobots advance, Megatron firing at Soundwave's feet, forcing him to take hopping skips backwards to prevent a foot from being blasted off.
He sees a thrown axe coming and doesn't dodge, taking the hit to his shoulder cannon. He's not fleeing now.
They move as if they were in synch, and knock Soundwave back into a pile of rubble.
He lies there, slightly winded. A shadow falls over him, and the last he sees is Arcee's heel coming down at him before the world dissolves into pain.
He comes to, leaning against the trailer on the road just above the quarry.
They don't seem to suspect anything is wrong. Good.
He struggles against his bonds. Tight, and that is right, it should be that way, he wanted it that way, and he hates it.
Hates how he doesn't know where his cassettes are. Hates that he has to play this role.
Optimus Prime and Megatron send the others away, leaving them alone with Soundwave.
He hears Megatron's apology to Optimus Prime, and he hates that too.
There's only one good thing that stems from his emotional outburst. Somewhere, somehow, Megatron has enough of himself left to let Soundwave's cassettes go. He hears him crush something metallic, and then he hears the familiar sounds of his cassettes' transformations. Something within him settles.
This is why he's doing this. This is what will make it worth it in the end, despite all the pain to get there.
They beg to be let go. He's proud of them, that they realise that panicked selfishness is the one thing that the Autobots would expect from them. They believe Decepticons hold no loyalty. Not when it's their spark at risk. He's not going to disabuse them of that notion.
Traitor. A senseless glyph in the grander scheme of things. What was loyalty when none was given back? What did friendship matter when all it did was shoot you in the back with a fusion cannon?
15 years on Earth was enough for Megatron to betray his principles. Another 15 years was enough for Soundwave to prepare to deal with his.
And yet. And yet.
There's still something there. Something of the Megatron he knew.
Soundwave does not care. He does not. Care.
Not when the friend he knew is gone, and only a walking corpse remains.
What use is there in caring for what he cannot have? It doesn't mean anything if there's nothing he can do about it.
He waits, wondering what they'll choose to do.
They let his children go. Even they don't believe GHOST would keep them safe. That a prank, even if only a diversion, means they must be locked up forever. He'd laugh, a grim kind of humour that feel so familiar now, if it wouldn't lower their chances at a successful escape, and impede his own imprisonment.
Why feel guilt now, Megatron? It didn't help the Decepticons any, all those years ago.
Locked up, caged, it's like nothing's changed since forever.
Whatever they tell themselves, these enemies of his, it doesn't matter. Platitudes are just lies made pretty.
When he's led into the prison, he smiles, cold and secretive. With this, the last pieces are in place.