I've put this chapter up, but several confused comments both here and on DA told me that I have skipped too many important pieces of this puzzle. So here now is a re-worked version with more details added and it should make everything clear. Please give me your thoughts!
Also, if you see a typo or mistake, please let me know!
Two solar cycles. It took two solar cycles for the gossip to make a full circle around the ship. The speed remained the same regardless of the gossip's nature or how many crew members were on board. Two solar cycles.
That must have been the twelfth space Constanta. Soundwave found some consolation in stable things like that even if it meant that everyone was informed of him mistreating a soldier by now.
He buffed the scraps out after Airachnid made fun of him. She was the only one who dared though. Others must find him too creepy to approach. Knockout avoided him now, though Soundwave was sure, if there was a need for medical help, the doctor would respond. Many things could be said about Knockout but he took his duties seriously.
Dreadwing rammed a shoulder into the TICs chest while passing by in the corridor just a few orns back. Soundwave ignored the obvious challenge. Megatron wouldn't be pleased if one of his veterans scrapped another whatever the reason or the outcome. The TIC also knew that while he outranked Dreadwing, the warrior would never issue a formal challenge without Megatron's approval, so.. unpleasant as it was, it wasn't really worth concern.
Soundwave had never been close to the troops and now this gap seemed to double. The troopers were obviously confused and nervous in his presence and tried to avoid his attention if possible. Funny. Everyone knew he was the eyes and ears of the Decepticons yet they believed they could gossip behind his back without him knowing it.
All this was predictable and anticipated. Megatron's reaction was the unknown. Because there was none yet. Though surely the warlord knew?
For all the eons Soundwave spent in his shadow never wavering, always loyal and supporting, never giving the slightest reason to doubt him... could Megatron overlook this one little slip? Soundwave had known the answer to this question. And it was negative.
Strangely, the spy found himself engulfed by dark excitement waiting for the inevitable clash.
/Somehow... me thinks, you don't want him to overlook it/ - Ravage observed mildly, watching his host pace their chamber corner to corner.
Laserbeak kept silent after her and cat's private discussion and Soundwave was beginning to wonder if he should be curious about it. The drone wasn't hostile though - her presence in their shared link was warm and content as usual.
Soundwave transmitted a neutral package, neither encouraging nor discouraging the cat.
/What's the worst that can happen?/ - Ravage asked then.
Soundwave stopped pacing.
/Odds that he scraps me - less than 2 percent. Odds that he casts me out - 4.83 percent. Odds that he assigns me a suicidal mission - 4.97 percent, odds that he sends me away from Nemesis - 4.98 percent. Odds that I will be otherwise publicly punished - 5.02 percent/
/In other words, nothing solid/ - Ravage summarized.
/Predicting Megatron: always hard/ - Soundwave agreed, returning to his pacing. Hard to predict - that was Megatrons greatest feature in his opinion.
/What are the odds he knows your reasons?/ - Ravage was just in a questioning mood, wasn't he?
/Soundwave: has no desire to calculate this probability/.
Ravage put his head on his paws /Why do you have to make it so complicated?/
His host chose not to answer.
As Soundwave's shift was approaching and Laserbeak attached herself to his chest, Ravage stepped in his path, blocking the door.
/Request: take me with you/
/Denied. Your presence at the bridge will not be taken kindly under current circumstances/
Ravage kept position. /Let me watch your back/ - the cat insisted, - /protecting you - my duty/. Soundwave didn't hesitate long. After such a long stasis that the feline experienced relinquishing the freedom of movement was more than a friendly gesture indeed. The spy turned his back to the technimal and shifted his armor aside to let Ravage transform into his place. The feline plastered against his spine, protecting his back as a second layer of armor.
/Keep radio silence/ - Soundwave transmitted somewhat unnecessarily, thus revealing his nervousness. Ravage plugged into their direct connection and curtly transmitted his agreement.
The first part of Soundwave's shift was uneventful. Of course, there was the database to crack and autobots to search for, as well as several dozens other tasks that needed his supervision, but that was just business as usual. Laserbeak had flown off to scan the vicinities of Jasper, Nevada, as scheduled. Soundwave was a little reluctant to let her go, but he didn't want to attract any extra attention by changing the routines.
But of course, it was due to happen sooner or later.
"Walk with me"
Soundwave left his console and followed Megatron, feeling all the optics within the hearing range lock on his back. He couldn't help but feel vulnerable.
Megatron didn't speak until they were on the upper deck and his comrade didn't need him to - the spy had read all the tiny signs and knew his leader was furious.
Strangely, this observation both saddened and pleased him. Still silent, the Decepticon leader transformed and flew away. The order to follow was still in place so Soundwave followed the lead and caught up with his superior, calculating probabilities on the fly.
Megatron had a habit of inviting those he sentenced for "a walk"... usually to return alone. However Soundwave had hard time believing this was his old comrade's intention. Logically speaking, Megatron couldn't afford himself to scrap his CO.
Still, the spy couldn't completely rule out a nearly 5 percent chance that Megatron was being illogical on this one.
They didn't fly far. A secluded meadow in a mountain forest was a perfect place for a fight - close enough to current Nemesis location to request aid or medical help if needed, but far enough to make spying on them difficult.
Soundwave transformed and landed, following Megatron's lead, feeling anticipating shudder run through his circuits. Megatron regarded him with narrowed optics
"After all those eons of impeccable service THIS is where you fail me?!" - Megatron's deep voice resonated with disappointment and it was worse than rage, it cut through Soundwave's audials like a blade. He didn't want to upset his one true master, and his helm lowered momentarily acknowledging his quilt, but maybe upsetting Megatron was exactly what he had wanted and his head urged up again to meet Megatron's stare.
/You really need to make up your mind, boss/ - Ravage transmitted sympathetically, earning no other reaction but a small electric slap from his host. "shut up" - the message was clear.
"You have broken my rules" - Megatron stated heavily and Soundwave nodded again.
"Explain yourself! - Megatron all but hissed. "So I would deem a suitable punishment for your disobedience"
Reveal everything? Open his very spark? Now? Here? Probability calculations took all Soundwave's capacity for a split nanoclick. Never had he been forced to think so fast. Then Soundwave stopped all the background activity, having met a decision regardless the possible consequences.
He shifted his weight a little, assuming a perfect passive defense stance before his rich polyphonic voice filled the autumn air for the first time on this planet: "Soundwave: not yours to punish".
Megatron seemed surprised: "Is that so? Are you denying my authority?!"
Soundwave shifted a little switching his jin to active. "Megatron: never proved superior."
With a click Megatron's blade was brought at the ready and the two former gladiators started circling each other slowly, Megatron feeling his bewilderment give way to anger and Soundwave eager to get this conversation past him by any means possible, even if it meant forcing a fight and taking a beating. Or worse, hurting his leader.
Yet, both were hesitant to attack. "Are you rebelling against me now?!" - Megatron asked partly to make sure and partly to buy some more time analyze his old comrade's weird behavior. It was true that Megatron never defeated his fellow - not on the Kaon's arena, not later - their only fight was a stalemate. It still was a stalemate now, both possible outcomes of this fight undesirable. Yet, Soundwave had issued a challenge and the warlord couldn't afford to ignore it. By gladiator customs, he never extended his power over the navy mech. Yet the spy heeded him all this time. Why change that now? What had burned his fuse?
Instead of answering, Soundwave launched forward.
It's been too long since they had last engaged in battle, but it felt as if they got transferred back in time. Soundwave didn't carry a blade - his wings were long, sharp and sturdy enough to serve as blades. Megatron recalled that as a first dent appeared on his arm protection. He counter attacked, but Soundwave spun out of reach in that deceptively slow movements that were his signature.
Megatron pressed to close the distance, not letting the navy mech completely out of reach. A blow to the wrist caused him to lower his cannon arm and Soundwave immediately launched a feeler into the opening. Megatron caught the feeler with his other hand but lost the grip on it as another sharp wing crushed into his second wrist joint.
A feeler wrapped around Megatron's foot and Soundwave pulled hard, causing his leader to fall. The catch was ancient. Megatron fell, rolled and grasped the feeler pulling hard, causing Soundwave to spin around, turning his back to the enemy. A mighty blow to the back sent the spy forward and he fell, retracting the feelers at the same time.
/Ravage?/
/M'fine. Holding on/
Soundwave sprang to his feet before his opponent managed to secure the advantage and they circled again. "After I'm done with you here" - Megatron said, - "I'll make Knockout check your systems throughout. Must be a virus working"
Soundwave felt rage. Megatron didn't even have a decency to get properly angry at him! A virus! He knew the name to this virus. "Megatron: big talk" - he said.
This time Megatron was first to rush forward. Soundwave meticulously blocked every punch flying in his direction, keeping his feelers in, waiting for an opening. The opportunity presented itself as Megatron jumped to kick him. Sounwave blocked the kick with his wing - although the inertia of the blow caused him to fall aside, but he managed to leave a leaking gash on the steely leg.
Pain caused Megatron to stop fooling around. He fired his blaster cannon. Soundwave swung aside and barely managed to escape it. He returned the blow with a sonic blast that caused Megatron to stutter and clasp his bucket helm.
A raged roar filled the air.
Never stopping to transmit the audial pain, Soundwave approached his opponent... a little too carelessly it would seem. Megatron jumped him and knocked him off his feet, breaking the transmission. They rolled.
Soundwave kicked free off the grasp and both came to their feet again. Much as the spy hoped the fight would take Megatron's mind off his motives, and prevent him from adding two and two, this seemed not to work. Soundwave had told Ravage he had no desire to calculate the chance that Megatron would figure him out. That was not true. He had made the calculations. The chances were solid. It was only a matter of time.
"Are you abandoning the Decepticon Cause?!" - by the Allspark! Why couldn't he stop talking and just fight already?! Soundwave found himself answering despite his better judgement: "Never!"
"THEN WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING ..."
Soundwave didn't let him finish, barreling into Megatron's frame - they fell again, but this time Megatron managed to roll on top and before Sounwave could get free, the warlord's steel claws pierced the spy's protoform right under the chest armor.
/Boss, we've got a leak. Need time to stabilize/ - Ravage reported immediately.
Before Megatron could deliver another blow, Soundwave's feelers connected to his armor and Soundwave shocked him with as big a power surge as he could gather.
Instantly offline, Megatron fell to the side and Soundwave rolled from under him.
When Megatron onlined, he found himself lying on the ground and looking at Sounwave getting up. The spy spotted a generous leak of energon on his side, and was obviously busy assessing the damage, not so game to fight anymore.
Seemed him coming back online went unnoticed and Megatron used this pause to fully connect the dots between recent events and the earlier outrage of this kind back on Cybertron when Soundwave raped and killed an autobot messenger (Megatron didn't care about the autobots and wouldn't spare it a second thought on it, hadn't the footage of this... event.. been transmitted into broadcast. It had cost them some allies and a lot of distress among the troops. Megatron even had to remove the spy from the SIC position to calm the things down.) Even now recalling the incident made him angry. He had thought that prohibiting 'facing across the ranks and keeping Soundwave away from the autobots (his new role as the CO allowed this) solved the problem. Apparently, autobots weren't the trigger.
Autobots.. eradicons.. strange choices indeed. Almost random.
This time Megatron first thought it had been about Airachnid. The tension between these two cons was palpable. And then Soundwave got an evidence on how close the said Airachnid got to him. Could it anger him enough to cause this? The two events were too close in time not to be linked. However, last time, there had been no Airachnid in the picture. Maybe someone else? He should find a common denominator.
Megatron shut his eyes, thinking. Despite their fight, he trusted Soundwave not to attempt to harm him any further. He had noticed that the officer was staying his punches. He knew Soundwave had noticed that he stayed his too.
So...
He recalled the details of the previous occasion. This information wasn't vital for winning the war, and normally Megatron erased this kind of info to keep his memory capacity sufficient for decisions making. But Soundwave was one of the key figures in his chess party and the incident puzzled him, so he kept full data of that cycle for further assessment which never had happened before now.
It was back in Kaon, the city tattered by the war but still beautiful. Part of Megatron still marveled at the thought that he got to rule it now. Soundwave was to return from a recon mission in Crystal city - their next secret target. It was Megatron's believe that the autobots were establishing a cloning facility on the base of local bio research labs. There was no intel indicating anything like it, but Shockwave pointed out it was a logical thing to do and the autobots had enough resources there, so it was worth checking out. The perspective of wrecker forces multiplied was too dangerous to ignore.
Megatron received a short comm from his SIC /returning/. The autobots surely intercepted their frequencies, and encryption was only a matter of time and resource to decode so it was wise not to pass around any sensitive info. Soundwave would report personally. Crystal city was several orns flight away, and all his other tasks for this cycle were completed, so the leader let himself enjoy a refill of energon and thought over his tomorrow's anti-autobot speech that should bring more followers to the Cause.
A soft tap on his door followed by a bright red head looking in: "Are you busy, mylord?" Flamewar. Megatron gestured her enter and asked "What is it?"
She bounced around the room "Nothing. I was just bored and thought I might keep you company..." - she put her full daily cube of energon beside his half-empty one and pierced him with her burning gaze "... my One True Master" - her tone dropped an octave lower and the smile wiped away any doubts in the meaning of her words.
When Shockwave first suggested Megatron assumed a title and installed formal hierarchy within Decepticons, the former gladiator felt repulsive of the idea. But now it felt so natural... exciting even, when an attractive femme spoke it like that.
Megatron liked Flamewar. She was passionate in 'facing and never tried to use their off-schedule activities to her advantage or attach any strings to him. It was a pity she had perished.
...anyway, when Flamewar left, it wasn't long before his private comm had activated. But it wasn't the message he'd been expecting. "My Lord," - Starscream screeched, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I believe you have to see it" and before Megatron had a chance to respond, Starscreams head on the display changed to the surveillance feed from one of the communication's center rooms. Megatron watched in shock his SIC force himself on the autobot messenger who was awaiting a reply to Prime's yet another ultimatum. The footage had no sound, but it was obvious the bot was screaming his vocalizer out as parts of his armor were ripped from the protoform and feelers dug into his frame.
"How did you get access to the surveillance net?" Megatron asked the air commander, watching the navy mech dump the limp messenger down when he was done, flip him over and cut his sparkchamber open. His SIC tore the 'bot spark out. He crushed it in his hand, energon splashing, and then the screen went dark.
"I did not, my liege. It's been broadcasted throughout Kaon".
Soundwave didn't try to run or deny the deed. He accepted his arrest and any punishment Megatron would give him. No explanation of his actions was offered. The report he brought from Chrystal City deemed a pre-emptive strike necessary and in the hurry of it, Megatron let Shockwave deal with political consequences of the outrage - it would be hard to convince the neutrals that autobots were the evil ones after the footage had made the news.
"Starscream! Lead our forces to Crystal City and burn it to the ground. Make sure all autobots facilities are destroyed. I will welcome you back with your victory as my Second-in-Command
Soundwave! You will deliver the message to the autobots instead of the bot you scrapped. Keep them distracted long enough for Starsream to launch his strike."
It was a suicide mission, but Megatron had no doubt the navy mech would make it out of Iacon alive.
And so the history was made.
Now that he thought of it, was it possible that Soundwave returned earlier and tried to deliver his report, only to find them... occupied? Could they have been too busy to notice him?
Suddenly, it all got crystal clear.
Megatron sat up. "You once told me you would follow me to the Pits of Hell and back if needed"
Soundwave turned to face him, startled. His leader had caught up on things. Finally. Energon was seeping slowly from the clawed wound in his side, but his swirling emotions were holding him upright... for now: "Soundwave : stands by his words" he said and offered the warlord a hand. Megatron clasped the offered hand and got up.
"Then..What was this riot of yours about?"
Soundwave was probably smiling under his mask. Sometimes you would just get a feeling he was. "The distinction between a follower and a servant" - he stated.
Megatron regarded him, head tilted slightly aside. "Why haven't you told me?" - he demanded.
Soundwave turned his helm away. It took him several nanoclicks to find enough courage to answer "Chances that Megatron accepts my code - non-existent. Soundwave's motivation: insignificant to the Cause".
Megatron raised a brow ridge. So that was what drove him all this time? Soundwave was mad if he thought Megatron would ever submit to anyone. Then again, he didn't think it. Yet the spy was apparently waiting for an answer, his pose revealing a suppressed hope.
"I have never questioned your motives before..." - the leader said carefully and Soundwave tensed at the words - "And I never will as long as you keep it under control"
Soundwave nodded slowly. Now that the virtual cat was out, he felt better. At least he wasn't yelled at or cast out. He could live with it. "Soundwave: sorry to cause trouble"
"Bridge us back. You are leaking" Megatron said indicating this matter was closed.
Soundwave pointed at the droplets of energon that ran down Megatron's leg. The warlord looked down, only now registering the wound.
"Still a draw then" - he said with a hint of amusement. "Always" - Soundwave responded, as the bridge Vortex opened in front of them.