Lieutenant Soundwave of the Decepticon forces, Communication Officer and right-hand man of Megatron, tapped away on a control panel, analyzing and filing bytes of Decepticon data away in the main computer mainframe. It was no secret that the War would soon move off-world, and Lord Megatron wanted everything he could possibly need to lead the Decepticons to be easily-accessible to himself but cryptic and hidden to anyone else.
And Soundwave was just the bot for the job. Trustworthy and loyal, though only to Megatron, Soundwave had quickly risen among the ranks of the Decepticons, one of the first Decepticons to join Megatron's cause. Quiet and frightening, his duty was only to that of Megatron.
So when Soundwave received a comm from Megatron informing him his mission to the core of Cybertron was a success, Soundwave said nothing, but prepared for Megatron's boarding of their ship: the Nemesis. It was currently serving as Decepticon headquarters until they could create a more permanent base.
When he also informed Soundwave that he had found something unexpected yet promising, Soundwave did not once question Megatron's judgement in bringing whatever he had uncovered onto the Decepticon base.
"Oh, and Soundwave – tell Shockwave that he may want to keep his favorite tools away from the door."
"Yes, Lord Megatron," Soundwave responded in his monotonous tone. He commed Shockwave to inform him of Megatron's orders.
"And what, exactly, are we bringing in?" the Decepticon scientist asked skeptically.
"Currently unknown. But do follow Lord Megatron's orders. "Although he said this in the same flat tone as always, Soundwave knew his words would be convincing enough to remind Shockwave of his place in the Decepticon ranks.
"Yes, Soundwave. I'll be waiting." Shockwave hung up the comm.
By the time Soundwave thought to wonder what Megatron was bringing aboard, however, he had already returned.
Soundwave turned from his control panel, prepared to nod a greeting to his leader when he stepped through the main door. But this moment never came; instead, when Megatron came aboard, he heard Megatron yelling at the troops to hurry up and footsteps running away from the bridge and towards Shockwave's lab.
Soundwave stood staring at the door, confused but waiting for Megatron's orders. When none came and he heard the sound of blaster fire, crashing, screaming, and was that music? Soundwave chose to move without a command and quickly walked out of the bridge, down the hall, and into Shockwave's lab.
Troops were quickly pouring out from Shockwave's lab, some putting away their guns while others cradled newfound wounds and made their way to med bay. When the troops had left, Soundwave silently slid inside as the doors to the lab shut.
Shockwave was pressing a button to an energy-containment cell. Megatron stepped in front of it, his back turned, before Soundwave could see what was inside.
"Lord Megatron," Soundwave greeted.
His leader turned around, a little startled but not angry. "Soundwave," he returned the greeting. "I'm sure the noises startled you, but I assure you everything is alright now. In fact, I was preparing to comm you once we got settled in."
"I will do whatever you require, my liege."
"Of course you will." Megatron turned back to the containment vessel and stepped aside for Soundwave to see.
The cell was noticeably bigger than the others, made of three solid walls and a fourth wall of cage bars humming with electricity. Inside was something Soundwave hadn't seen for a very long time, not since before the war. Its armor was blue violet, with light blue accents and a light grey body. Its optics were large with a unique color – similar to a blue violet, but with the distinctive colors of light blue and violet still individually visible. It sat chained to the back of the cell, frightened but determined.
The prize Megatron had brought back was a youngling.
Seeing its new onlooker, the youngling pulled on her chains and cried out in frustration. Her optics widened in anger, and she grabbed ahold of the chains and attempted to pull them off. As soon as she did, a powerful spasm of electricity coursed through her small body. She screamed and collapsed, curled pathetically on the floor.
Instead of giving up, though, the youngling writhed around on the floor and pulled herself up to sitting. A blue-violet glow began to seep out of her palms, and she gripped the chains again. In a burst of light, the chains snapped, and the youngling was scrambling towards the bars.
Shockwave pressed a button next to the cell door, sending an even larger jolt of electricity all throughout the cell. Soundwave could feel the hot sparks of energy emanating from the cell and took a step back. The youngling collapsed again, deathly still. He watched the youngling earnestly. She stirred a little, moaning in pain and watching her captors through dim optics.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Megatron asked before Soundwave had a chance to process it all.
"Quite unusual," Soundwave agreed.
"Shockwave's task will be to study the sparkling as best he can, and to find a way to open its powers up to our use," Megatron explained. The burst of light, then, had come from the little bot. Soundwave wondered what sort of powers the young bot had, and where they could have possibly come from if they could snap chains so easily.
"Which will require much time, trial, and…error." Shockwave shuddered noticeably at the last word.
"In the meantime, we'll have her fed and cared for—"
"Within the cell, of course," Shockwave interrupted. Megatron glared at his mad scientist for interrupting him. Shockwave paused and let Megatron continue.
"I simply wanted to make one of my most trusted advisers aware of the situation. Whatever powers this young bot possesses are not something to be taken lightly. The Decepticons have been handed a golden opportunity with this discovery – a discovery that could change the course of this War."
Soundwave nodded his helm once in understanding. Then he turned his gaze back to the youngling, still lying motionless on the floor. She sensed someone watching her and lifted her helm a little to meet Soundwave's gaze. She tried to look into his optics – best as she could with his visor – then gently laid her helm back on the floor.
Her small form gave in to exhaustion, and she closed her optics in recharge. The slight shifting in her sleep was the only sign of life. Soundwave's gaze fell to a peculiar marking in the middle of her chest – a gemstone-like cover where the window of a seeker's alt would be. It was too small to be a window, though, and Soundwave peered at it closely, trying to discern what was inside.
Seeming to sense his questions, Shockwave pulled up a scan – an upright model of the youngling's frame he must have taken not long before Soundwave entered the lab. Boxes of data filled the margins, and lines connected these to different parts of her body. Shockwave tapped the one hovered directly over her chest and pointed to the enlarged image of the gemstone-like cover. He tapped it again to reveal a small, simple mechanism inside.
Soundwave scanned his own systems for info on the small device. His findings weren't quite something he was expecting.
"It's a music box," Shockwave answered for him. "A small device made of tongs and gears that produces a melody when wound. It is not something a bot would normally be born with and not something a youngling could have gotten installed easily. Attributing that to her strange origins, I believe it is somehow connected to her powers."
"A music box could not logically produce the sort of powers demonstrated," Soundwave answered.
"I cannot be certain until I am able to study the youngling further. Otherwise, that is all it is – a music box."
Shockwave seemed partially annoyed to have to explain this to Soundwave. Megatron seemed to sense this too and turned away from Shockwave towards the door of the lab. "We'll leave you to your work now, Shockwave."
Soundwave followed his leader out of the lab. He risked one quick glance back at the youngling. Stoic as he seemed, he was curious about her powers, about the music box, and about her origins before Megatron had found her. Megatron hadn't given him any further details about the youngling since he had returned, so Soundwave could not begin to guess how Megatron had come across her.
Megatron's journey had been to the center of Cybertron, to fill its core with the dark energon stores recently discovered. He hoped he could somehow control the Allspark if it, along with the core, were run through with dark energon. Rumors had been spreading that the Autobots were planning to eject the Allspark into space, rendering Megatron unable to possess it through his current method. From this, Soundwave assumed Megatron would waste no time in traveling to the core. Megatron also knew that injecting the core with dark energon would poison Cybertron as Primus attempted to fight back for control of the planet; he would have returned to the Nemesis immediately after completing his mission. Meaning he had likely found the youngling along the way to the core of Cybertron.
That left even more questions, though: What was a youngling doing underneath Cybertron's soil? How did it manage to get down the Well without anyone's knowledge, considering it had been well-guarded even after war broke out? And why would a youngling have any business in Cybertron's core? The Autobots were too noble to send younglings on dangerous missions of the sort, so were the Decepticons the only ones aware of its existence?
These questions, Soundwave hoped, would soon be answered by Shockwave's findings. He slipped quietly out of the lab, streams of thought flooding his processor.