When Soundwave reboots, it is to a well-known and even more welcome purple ceiling at the perfect distance from him. He's lying on a slightly larger, all-frame type repair berth, with all his creations surrounding him and looking down at him with worry and hope.
He needs no more than send a pulse of joy and relief through the bonds for the Cassettes to break out into wild smiles and embrace him as tightly as they can.
"Hey, you! Don't you know what a pain it was to fix that? Off his chest compartment!" a known and annoyed voice bellows, and pairs of purple and lime green arms start pulling the smaller mechs off Soundwave despite their indignant cries, until they're all squirming in Bonecrusher and Long Haul's grips, Hook glaring at them as he helps the Cassette Carrier sit up. "Any problems?"
"Negative," he answers, gesturing for the two Constructicons to release his creations, who glare at the larger mechs but don't pounce back on their Carrier. "Query: Events after disappearance."
"The Space Bridge exploded, Megatron got glitching mad, we successfully assaulted two power plants and sent the Energon to Cybertron, and then Astrotrain was ordered to go retrieve you from a lake in Africa to drop your half-scrapped afts here for us to deal with," Hook deadpans, scanning Soundwave as he slowly gets to his pedes. "That last thing was an Earth week and a half ago."
"Query: Others."
"Ravage was the first to recover and has been pestering us ever since, but it wasn't until Thrust finally got his processor sorted out a couple days ago that we got more than 'ended on a planet with gigantic natives'."
"Query: Starscream."
"Over there."
Soundwave turns and feels his spark shrink.
The damage to chest and cockpit has already been carefully repaired, color nanites starting to cover the fixed plating, but the wings…
They've been pulled apart, only the myriad of wires and sensors still attached, spread on some slabs of metal to keep some semblance of their positioning in the actual wings.
"Scrapper and Scavenger take turns with getting the plates straightened or replaced, but we can't attach them because Shockwave hasn't sent the replacement struts yet. The joints are the worst, though. They're a crushed mess, and it's hard to work with so many sensors around. The slagger keeps getting out of stasis lock if we work too long, they're that sensitive, so we're repairing him on and off," Hook explains calmly, shrugging, and despite everything, Soundwave feels relieved.
It may take some time to get him fully repaired, but the Constructicon hasn't said they can't do it.
"Starscream: Rebooted."
"Not fully, thank Primus. We're getting damaged enough just by having to deal with his battle protocols without listening to his shrieking."
"Query: Autobots."
No answer.
Slowly, Soundwave turns to face Hook's confusion.
"What about them? They came back when you did, but they've been less annoying than usual, lately. Though that may have something to do with the fact we haven't been raiding anything. We got enough while you weren't here, and Lord Megatron is being the patient type until you two are back to peak performance," the Constructicon answers, gesturing between the Starscream and Soundwave, and the Communications Officer just nods.
And then, to the Constructicons' and most of his creations' confusion, Soundwave gets to Starscream's side and rests a servo over a wrist joint. Ravage, once more in his Bestial mode, jumps on the berth to mimic his Carrier a nanoklik later.
"Huh… Soundwave? What are you doing?"
Without answering Bonecrusher's question, the Cassette Carrier simply walks out of the Repair Bay with Ravage next to him, intent on getting to the bridge.
Time to return the favor.
And what better way than to prod a certain Decepticon scientist about a package that should have already been on the Victory?
Ravage's loud purrs as he gets wind of his Carrier's plan echo warmly in the perfectly-sized corridors, and Soundwave allows himself to chuckle.
Earth, tiny Earth.
It's good to be back.
UPDATED 09/01/2023: Corrected grammar.
AN: Really short, but it had to be on its own. Otherwise, it lost the The End feeling, and it didn't really go along with the rest of last chapter.
About the title: Why call the last chapter 'checkpoint'? Because a checkpoint in videogames is where the game is saved and where the character respawns after death. So, with that in mind, two reasons: The Decepticons 'came back' from an almost deadly experience, all damages fixed. And second, the story is never over, so it didn't fit to name the chapter 'Game Over' or something of the like.
So, this time, this is it, people. Child's Play (We're Not Toys!) is over, done, finito (My first finished story ever... I'm so happy *tears of joy*). Thanks a lot for everything, and hope to read from you all again!
Giddy: No, I can't fault the good ol' cartoon, but as you said, a different view is nice too. Think of Starscream as you will, I won't be the one to tell you what he is and isn't ;) (Plus, I share your opinion XD). I'm happy to read that about Ravage, because that was my exact reasoning. Also, about the Cons looking like 'toys that have been played with too hard': Yes! You get it! That's what I was trying to convey, what I wanted to show! *bouncing around screaming* I'm so happy my cheeks hurt from smiling so much :D Thanks a lot for everything and I hope I'll get to read more from you!