I have realised that chapter 7 got out of sync - DA version was considerably longer than the one posted here. I updated chapter 7 with DA version, as that had been the final one, so you might want to come back and re-read it. "Facing" scenes give me headache, so it really takes a while to push myself through them (cold shower helps a lot :))
"No! Let me go! I' m not afraid of you, Ravage!" - but somehow it didn't sound convincing enough.
/That is because you don't know me, eradicon. But you will/ the cat transmitted, tightening his jaws a little. /now hold still/
The cat's tail was gliding across Doug's chassis, poking at the seams as it appeared to be searching for openings. Guessing about the goal of this search made Doug start to warm up. He had been right.
The appendage lingered at his port covers, poking at them more intensively
/now.. Unlike Soundwave I cannot hack you circuits and make you comply, so I'm gonna count to four. Open up, or I'll rip you up./
When Doug didn't reply, he started to count "one... two.. "The covers slid aside reluctantly.
'You will have to let go of me to do that" - Doug said, sounding rather dull.
Ravage brought up his tail, so that the eradicon would see it. Metal scales shifted aside revealing interfacing cables. /not necessarily/
The eradicon beneath him tensed and Ravage felt his spark hum and tremble beneath his paw. He had guessed right, then. Soundwave's violation created a strong reflex within the eradicon, making him crave for being forced to interface. That, and not just irrational loyalty to Soundwave, made him approach the technimal several orns back. Whether DOUG was willing to acknowledge it or not, he wanted this to happen. Ravage glided his erect cable down Dougs chassis to the port in a slow and even tantalizing motion, catching the hitch of intake and the smell of transfluid as well as the revving of cooling fans. If the con hadn't been ready for the taking yet, he was quickly approaching that point.
But it wasn't just a ready port that Ravage needed. He needed compliance. He could force the swap into the vehicon against his will, but he could not ensure he wouldn't erase it as soon as he was free. Besides, it just struck Ravage that he was about to repeat the mistreatment his host suffered from. Whether Soundwave would take it lightly if he ever found out was an open question, but Ravage preferred not to take this risk.
/Do you consent?/ he asked, slighty rubbing his cable against the outer rim of the receiving port.
"What? Seriously?! Asking now?!"
Ravage squeezed his jaws a little tighter, reminding the eradicon that despite the question he was the one in control. /I will swap you package and I want you to keep it safe for me. For that I need your collaboration. Do not mistake for a click that I will hesitate to snuff you, Doug/
No answer came except for gaping intakes as the vehicon tried to cool his processor down enough to think. Ravage felt transfluid oozing out onto his cable and silently marveled how one forced interface had been enough to turn this soldier into a danger whore.
/You know I can make it good.../ Ravage transmitted, emphasizing his point by pressing the cable into the port, only to withdraw a split click later.
The eradicon gave up a half-sigh half-moan "Yes! Just do it already!" - he forced out.
That was all the feline needed to hear. He plugged in.
Dreadwing turned out to be a decent SIC and Soundwave passed over part of his too many responsibilities. Neither of them spoke to one another other than on duty but that hadn't been the same hostile silent treatment it had been before. There was just nothing either one wanted to say and it was fine like that.
With the space bridge relocated, mining and military operations under Dreadwing's control now, Soundwave could concentrate on his primary tasks: decode the base and trace the autobots. Laserbeak was scouting non-stop now, returning to the ship for a quick refill and sync once a cycle, and Soundwave barely left his console, trying to out-intel the enemy. Besides, even if he had spare time, what would he do with it?
Ravage spent a lot of time on watch duty or cleaning after the watch duty. Soundwave barely saw him. Frankly speaking, that was a waste of the cat's abilities, but Soundwave didn't dare to voice his objections to Megatron, careful not to disturb the content peace that seemed to settle between them.
Knockout was avoiding him now, but the spy couldn't blame him. If anything, he blamed himself for snapping and ruining what was to be a perfect friendly gesture.
Megatron had been watching him. That wasn't new. Sure, the warlord kept an eye out for all officers, never fully trusting any of them and mostly Soundwave had been instrumental for this watch. This left Megatron with a choice: trust his surveillance chief or watch him in turn.
Soundwave understood very well how it worked. He always made sure that his reports had been as full as possible, and he himself as predictable, reliable and stable as he could manage, so keeping an eye on him wouldn't take too much of Megatron's time.
Over the eons, the warlord seemed to spend him no more than an occasional glance which was as good for Soundwave.
Now he was studying him. The change was subtle and probably went unnoticed by the rest of the crew - had Starscream been here, he would have noticed, but the volatile Seeker had gone rogue and the rest of officers hadn't been around for long enough to notice this pattern shift.
Megatron also spent 11% more time around Soundwave which was bliss and torture at the same time. Seemed like the warlord shifted back to the kind of camaraderie they shared before Soundwave snapped the first time. Soundwave enjoyed occasional brush of fields as well as a rare joke Megatron would share with him. It was hard to reign in his spark and root out any stray hope that would occur, though.
Luckily, autobots were keeping everyone busy, including the warlord.
The new relic they've lost to the enemy was nothing less but the Star Saber itself. Such a weapon tipped the scales greatly and Soundwave silently approved Megatron's instant decision to withdraw and hold off all operations until they found a way to top that.
This meant that miners were to be picked up too and he would finally have a chance to sync with Ravage on the unfortunate party night.
Soundwave attempted several times to reconstruct the timeline but it just wouldn't fit. More curious than worried, he wanted to see if his symbiont's logs could cast some light upon this strange occurence.
He even went as far as to meet his kitten at the transporter dock, ignoring suprised glances of the troopers. Megatron and Dreadwing were off to Cybertron and Soundwave was in charge. That didn't mean he had to stick to the bridge, though - all the ship's controls were remotely synced to his private comm.
The shiny platform emerged through the dock carrying last crates of energon and the mine watch (miners and equipment were bridged up a little earlier, but Soundwave was reluctant to pass massive energon stack through the bridge Vortex. That would be unneccessary risk.)
Ravage seemed joyful, audials standing proudly up as he listened to something an eradicon told him. Soundwave checked the signatures. Not just an eradicon, then - the eradicon!
As if sensing his tension (as he probably did), Ravage looked up to see his host and suppressed disapproving flecks of green in his EM-field. The mood dropped noticeably. Doug said something but Ravage leapt out of the platform before it rose all the way up and a flick of his tail was all farewell the eradicon got.
The technimal covered the distance to his creator in few powerful leaps. Soundwave turned and walked off before the feline reached him. Ravage caught up with him and trotted beside.
For a while it was quiet until Ravage couldn't take this silence no more: /Am I in trouble?/. Soundwave spared him a glance /I will refrain answering this question until we complete the sync/ Ravage summoned all his innocence. /Another sync? Did something happen while I was down there?/.
Soundwave sent a simple "negative" and walked on. Ravage silently bared his fangs and hastened to match his pace. Soundwave hadn't forgotten. Trouble. Ravage had anticipated it and he had been ready. Bring it on, Boss Bot...
Upon completing the sync Soundwave fetched a fresh cube of en and poured a tube for the feline. Ravage reckoned, it was a good sign. He sipped the en, patiently waiting Soundwave to break the silence first.
/Your reasoning for not informing me: of interest./ - bad sign. Soundwave was using his routine speech patterns which meant he de-prioritized emotions. Which, in turn, meant he was having strong feelings and Ravage feared, they weren't good, those feelings. He contemplated pretending not to know what his host was talking about, but this lie would be too obvious.
/I had no chance to do that before, Boss. Besides, you didn't ask/ - Ravage brought the art of lying with telling truth, only truth and nothing but truth (just not all the truth), to the new heights.
/Erase it!/ - now that was a direct order Ravage knew better than to try to disobey. So far everything went on according to his expectations, and he knew his joy at the thought flared red in his field. With luck, Soundwave would interpret it as joy of riddance.
/Data erase: completed/ - he reported. But Soundwave wasn't done with him: /If you really want to help Soundwave, meet me at the transporter docks in seven orns. And by the Allspark! HOLD YOUR GLOSSA!/ - he recited Ravage's own transmission. SCRAP! The feline totally forgot about that. /I said that to make sure he would come/ - the cat answered quickly before his creator would order him to spill everything. Again, nothing but the truth.
Soundwave drank his energon. /Your sudden taste for eradicons is of no significance to me. Your newfound desire to meddle into things beyond you is of my concern. Define "helping Soundwave"/.
Ravage's head sunk. /Help you find peace, Boss. Fix things/
/FIX. THINGS. WHAT THINGS?/ - Now there had been no mistake that the Boss Bot was engraged. Ravage didn't even have to look at his white-hot field to know he was furious. But he had no choice other than answer.
/Soundwave: unstable. Soundwave: in turmoil. Cause of turmoil: data erased. Host: damaged. Objective: fix host/ - facing the wrath of his creator Ravage turned to basic programming, stopping more complex emotional processes to avoid possible damage to his psyche.
For a split click Ravage dreaded that he would be forced to stasis, or even... deactivated.
/What is your designation?/
The cat's shot up to look at his superior pleadingly. Soundwave triggered the priorities recalibration sequence, and than meant reigning the cat in. Forcefully. /Please, Boss, don't do this!/
/Answer/
/Ravage./
/What is your class?/
/Cassette/ - With each answer Ravage's transmission got weaker, as his basic programming was suppressing his personal motivations.
/What are your primary functions?/
/Bodyguard. First aid. Spec ops/
/What are your priorities?/
/Protecting host physical integrity, serving the Decepticon Cause, self preservation/
/Is my mental stability of your concern?/
Ravage's head sunk even lower though it would seem impossible. /Negative/
Soundwave reached down, put his fingers under Ravage's chin and forced the technimal to look up to him. /Do not. Ever. Forget. Your. Place./
/...yes, Boss/ - that was barely above whisper.
Soundwave let him go. /Now to that fling with autobots/ Ravage's head shot up. Even though he surpassed his authority on that one as well, he was not taking the blame for what had been an obvious success.
/I found the report lacking. Care to fill me in?/ - Soundwave's moods seemed a little lifted now that they were done with the unpleasant part. Ravage allowed himself to lay down. The "fling" with autobots, as his boss called it, was the source of his pride. Guarding the mine had been a dull task, and at the same time ineffective. The autobots kept finding and robbing the minings and increasing the number of guards didn't work - the element of surprise and poor tactical positioning (how can you position a hole in the ground?) worked the trick for autobots every time.
Ravage realised why the guards instructions were the way they were - eradicons were neither the brightest nor quickest cons out there. But he hadn't been an eradicon.
Disobeying his immediate shift commander - no one really tried to stop him, they just assumed he had different orders, - Ravage expanded his patrol routes until he covered the whole sector. Once he spotted a Vortex - not in the nearest proximity of the mine, he sneaked closer to find out autobots intentions.
They were scanning. And as he fine-tuned his highly perceptive audials, he heard them speaking of energon readings.
So that's how they found the mines! (perhaps it had been obvious for bigger cons, but Ravage never thought of it before). Apparently, once they started mining, it wasn't enough just to keep the energon underground to shield it.
Ravage alarmed the shift commander and this time there had been no energon goodies for the 'bots, even though the casualties both on eradicons and miners were big (blasted two-wheeler managed to sneak past defences and caused mayhem among workers before cons managed to throw them back).
As they stripped that mine and moved to a new site, Ravage insisted they planted a "mock mine" to draw autobots to. /Like moths to fire/ - he added.
Let them attack a dummy, seize their prize of a couple of cubes worth and alarm the main mine. They could then attack the enemy without risking precious energon and mining equipment. It was against the orders troopers received and Ravage had to pull rank on the shift commander hinting that his line up to Soundwave was much shorter than the officer's. That was a tricky ground, he knew, but it worked! And inside the decepticon's ranks, they did not judge the winners.
/You should have sought my approval first/ - Soundwave commented.
/Ravage: retains tactical freedom when on a mission?/ - The feline tried to defend himself.
/On solitary missions - yes. Not when you boss around the troops. Next time - seek my permission first/ - this time the admonishing wasn't harsh. /Understood, Boss/
Anyway, it had worked. Three autobots that came to investigate the energon readings turned to the brightest energy scource they saw on the scanners - the unshielded energon the cons planted in a small cave.
The two guards that were placed to guard it didn't have a chance to sound the alarm, but Ravage, overlooking the trap from the nearest hill did that for them. The autobots barely seized the cubes before flyers attacked them from above.
/Two cubes of en, four wounded./ - Ravage concluded /and we stripped that mine clear unhindered/
/You were lucky. Next time they won't fall for that/ - Soundwave transmitted. He decided not to spoil kitten's moods by telling him why the autobots fell back - it was about the same time Prime seized the Star Saber from the cons. This war was fought on many levels and within his area of operations, the feline did well.
/Go cleanse the dust off - I'm calling you in/
/You're locking me?/
/It is your primary duty/ - Soundwave pointed out with a hint of finality to his tone. /Until we resume mining at least/ - he added to soften the blow.
When it came to 'facing, Megatron considered himself an easy going mech. He usually got what he wanted - no, scratch that, - he always got what he wanted, though he rarely wanted anyone. He was an attractive mech and not just because of the power he possessed or deeds he had accomplished - he had always been noticed. At different points in life nearly all of his higher officers offered themselves to him. He rarely said "no". Even Starscream managed to challenge him into interfacing a couple of times in his own passive aggressive manner. Soundwave had never tried.
And it's not that he would need to dread a refusal. Megatron might be a tough and demanding leader, vicious even, but this never applied to the matters of off-schedule activities. He never let that influence anything else.
Now that the cat was out of the box, he was studying his comrade. Soundwave was probably the most secretive of his subordinates, at the same time he was the most loyal and reliable of them. It was always hard to 'read' Soundwave, even before he stopped using his voice. No face plates to read mimics from, no voice to carry across his emotions - Soundwave was a sealed black box. But Megatron was perceptive and over the eons he came to recognize Soundwave state of mind from tiny things like the way he moved around or the sound of his servo engines.
He never paid much attention to the way how Soundwave froze in the middle of a conversation or when the leader invaded his personal space (which turned out to be quite large a space, the TIC being a telepath and all). Soundwave was pressing down an emotional response, and it must have been one hell of a response if it required shutting down parts of his body not to let it out. Why didn't he even try? Why did he chose to bottle it all up until it burst out in such an ugly way? It wasn't the rational behaviour he would expect from his chief of surveillance.
Of course, Megatron had better things to do than to wreck his processor over his subordinate's inexplicable behavior. There was a war to win. There was a world to claim as his own. Had it been anyone else, he wouldn't care. But Soundwave's position had been unique: he was literally irreplaceable. The Cause, Megatron's own life depended on info the navy spy provided and trust was vital. How could he trust someone whose actions he couldn't fully understand?
The previous... mishap... back on Cybertron tore his trust to Soundwave apart. After a while he came to rely on the spy's info (still performing random checks on his reports from time to time), but he never let him get as close as they had been at the dawn of this war. Concealed motives meant treachery that way or the other, sooner or later, and one Orion in his life was already one too many. Even now, as he recalled that outrageous treason, Megatron felt rage swelling up. Ever since then, he had been expecting a blow in the back. Now... now he realised he missed his friend's quiet support - the support that the other never stopped providing him with.
The trip to Cybertron was exactly what he needed to sort his thoughts out. Dreadwing was respectful and didn't try to interrupt is Lord's musings with chitchat.
As two jets covered miles and miles toward their destination, Megatron called his vivid memory to order and concentrated on the task at hand: there was a Prime's grave to desecrate.