The wait was... very long. I am very sorry. :( Study is taking away most of my strength and time from writing. I know, always the same excuse... but this is the truth. I don't think I'll be able to update anything soon, but I want to thank everybody for the reviews/favs/follows, and a HUGE thanks to You, DarkSplinter! You gave me confidence and inspiration, for which I am endlessly grateful! You helped me a lot! Thank you! :)
Eeer... I can't think about any warnings here. Maybe by the end of the chapter...? :D Enjoy! :)
III.
Perceptor sighed in frustration for the umpteenth time that cycle. All this paperwork was grating on his nerves; even though he was used to staying long in his office, sometimes even forgetting to recharge, that time was usually used for research. This lack of stimuli made his attention wander, back to his projects, and in turn it increased his frustration further. Commissioner Prowl insisted on having all the official documents filled, and Perceptor wanted to finish everything as soon as possible - but of course, in the middle of arranging the clearing and re-construction of Wheeljack's laboratory and the head roboticist's medical treatment, it took longer than he expected.
Prowl and his team knew them from Iacon for some time, Colonel Ironhide especially took a big role in smoothing out these incidents, but now the Head of Police warned them the next time something similar happened he would have to make a thorough investigation. Something the Facility didn't need, even though Perceptor was sure they had nothing to hide - it was stressful for everyone and would show the Kimia in bad light.
Wheeljack and his brilliant ideas, Perceptor grunted impatiently, the datapad almost trembled in his hands. He and Wheeljack were roughly the same age, both were educated at high-ranking universities and gained renown in the scientific world at a young age. Thus, Perceptor respected Wheeljack for his expertise and enthusiasm, and this brought understanding between them that Perceptor even dared call friendship. However, their personalities couldn't have differed more; where Wheeljack was open and sharing, Perceptor closed himself and refused to let anyone in to get to know better. Where Wheeljack was rash and willing to jump into the craziest of ideas, Perceptor was quiet and strict, careful to the point of fear when it came to things not deemed safe enough.
And that was the reason the young dean could get so angry with him at times like this, even though he knew exactly he was working on an official project, towards a good purpose. But rules were always secondary to the engineer, especially when he grew excited over something. And he had to pay for it.
What was it this time? Oh, yes, that cloaking device - an assignment from the Senate itself, for their enforcers so they could infiltrate and expose illegal organizations and such more efficiently. That angered Perceptor as well; he hated it when outer forces wanted to interfere with the Kimia's business. They were a research facility, not some parcel service, yet he couldn't stop the Senate from creeping into their lives and demand projects from them and time that could have been spent on other matters, some quite urgent. For example, Perceptor have thought of starting a project to find ways to re-electrify waste and exhaust energon from ground and space bridges to recycle and save more to those who couldn't afford enough for their families. Or ways to build the bridges' warping technology into space ships, in case the space bridge network malfunctioned - those who lived on the colonies would be stuck there for stellar cycles, after all, even the fastest of ships could only travel at the speed of light.
And when it came to space travel, light speed wasn't that fast.
Or, maybe, methods to stop further corruption to the planet's weather; acid rains were more and more frequent, mainly on the equatorial regions, and there was no natural explanation to it - only artificial toxins, fumes of spent energon and other chemicals improperly stored, and their concentration in the atmosphere grew every stellar cycle...
Perceptor's digits tightened around the datapad and he realized he had been starring at it without seeing anything for a while by then. Again he let his thoughts wander and he wasn't finishing his work!
Curse Wheeljack...
Curse politics...
Another distressed sigh broke from Perceptor's lips when the door of his office whooshed open. Very few - only two - 'bots knew the code of his office and even they knew the physicist hated it if someone entered uninvited. However, looking up from his datapad, the anger and exhaustion evaporated to be replaced by shock at the white, streamlined mech who stepped, smiling, into the office.
"D-Drift?" Perceptor's usually light and sophisticated voice stuttered, "Why... How did you know my code?"
"From Brainstorm." the Elite Guard instructor replied, the smile never left his lips as he walked casually up to the table where Perceptor sat, "I was allowed out and I knew you'd still be working. I decided not to let you fall into recharge on your datapads again."
Perceptor was silent, he looked down at the datapad he still held unconsciously in his hands, "I need to finish these, Drift."
"As I heard, Prowl has given you three solar cycles to finish all the reports." at the dean's look, Drift raised up his hands in defense, "Brainstorm."
The Head of Physics buried his forehead in his palm, finally letting his frame slump, knowing full well that he didn't have to pretend for Drift, "You're not with the police now, so it's not your concern."
"No, you are my concern." Drift rounded the table and crouched down in front of Perceptor's sitting form, "Working yourself to deactivation will not further the Facility's goals. They need you fully functional - you're a scientist, you know it much better than me. So... you're going home now?"
Perceptor averted his optics and suddenly looked shy under the other mech's gaze. He did not turn fully to Drift and his hands tightened on the datapad once again, but this time in another type of nervousness.
"So, you came to... take me home?" he asked quietly, causing the drill sergeant to chuckle.
"What else would I have come for?" he asked back and rose to gently pry Perceptor's digits off the datapad. He extended a hand towards the young physicist, which Perceptor accepted after a slight hesitation and let himself be pulled to his pedes, "It's okay. I'm not taking you to my place... I know you're not ready for that. I just thought we could walk together... We can't meet and talk often, and you could use some fresh air."
"Yes, maybe that's right." Perceptor let out a shaky vent, "I'm tired, Drift."
"I know you are. May I?"
At the gentle question, Perceptor took a step forward into the waiting arms of the other mech. He smiled a little when he didn't tense as Drift closed him in an embrace, a loose one, to give him the chance to back off if he wished so. It was all done for him, he told himself. To help him.
"How does this feel?" he heard Drift ask, his voice close to his audios.
"Fine." was all Perceptor could answer. He had never been good at social interactions, the only time he could have longer conversations with someone or even give smaller speeches was over a scientific topic that he was interested in. It had been better since he met Drift; he couldn't explain what had drawn him to the former officer, or what Drift saw in him, but he felt more and more comfortable with him, even to the point of opening up to him about himself and his life.
Ever since then, Drift had been by his side, swearing that he would help him get over his fears and limitations in dealing with other bots on a social level - and he had many limitations. Perceptor didn't know how, but Drift was slowly but surely leading him back to that he lost, and taught him to value his colleagues more than their degree in scientific fields.
After a while, the instructor broke the embrace and looked at Perceptor deep in the optics, locking them to his. Perceptor knew what would come next, and he tried to fight the urge to tense up as the white metallic lips brushed against his. He told himself it should feel good; that if he relaxed, he could enjoy the contact the way it was meant to. Perceptor offlined his optics and let his rigid posture limp, tried to push his worries to the back of his mind and lose himself into the feeling.
There was nothing wrong about it after all. It was just Drift.
"And this?" he asked, Drift's tone was still gentle, but serious, "Be sincere, Perce."
"It felt... right." yes, that was the word that came first to his glossa to describe what he felt. Drift always told him to tell him everything he was feeling, be it good or bad - but now he became relaxed enough to say that the mech's closeness felt good.
At that reply, a broad smile spread out on Drift's lipplates, "See? You're getting stronger every cycle. Maybe you should start believing me."
Perceptor rolled his optics, a habit he picked up from Colonel Ironhide, and this earned him a chuckle from the drill sergeant. "Come on, let's go home."
The young dean was hardly aware of a light smile unconsciously forming on his lips as he finally deactivated the datapad and followed Drift out of his office to close down for the night. For that moment, he could forget about the paperwork, Wheeljack and the projects demanded by the Cybertronian Senate and just went where the flow pushed him. It was easier than he thought.
Drift was probably right... he was getting better.
"Greetings, Your Excellency. May I sit here?"
Starscream looked up at the familiar voice calling to him and gave a nod, "Advisor Contrail. Please, take a seat."
The other Seeker sat down opposite the younger flyer. Starscream took a sip from his refined energon and willed his other hand to stay unmoving on the table. They finally had a break between the sessions and he was still just starting to calm down - he wanted to be alone a little, at least finish a cube before they all had to gather back at the chamber. Starscream looked around the robots gathered at the small area, noticing them for the first time. Crystal City's young senator, Greenlight was conversing with Ultra Magnus of Iacon and his junior advisor Arcee, while senator Mirage shared a cube with Velocitron's ambassador and the Tesarian senator, Sixshot. Sentinel Prime himself soon joined them and Starscream tried to repress a snort at the mech's sight; he instead turned back quickly to his fellow Seeker.
"Why aren't you with your senator?" he asked somewhat impatiently, "Do you want to talk about something?"
Contrail glanced towards the first trio with a small smile, "My lady can do without me. And I wanted to congratulate you on the latest developement. It is great to hear our dear Vos finally has its own space bridge fully functional."
Starscream now couldn't hold back a huff, "Yes, until our dear Prime decided to get hold of it." he murmured, "And of course, almost the whole Senate agreed to nationalize it, just like the other space bridges."
"You know it is just to keep track on the traffic."
"The traffic, alright." Starscream replied sarcastically and put down his cube. Just speaking of the recent subject of the first session took his appetite away.
"But you managed to keep them from proposing a voting, and thus Vos can keep its independency. At least regarding the space bridge."
Yes, Starscream thought, that much was true. During the session, his speech almost turned into shrieks in his vehement objection against the nationalization of their space bridge. It had been one of the biggest achievements of their Astronomical Division, built entirely on their own by the greatest of scientists of the Division and many skilled mechanics - it was theirs, and Starscream wasn't about to give it all to the Senate. It was the property of the Vosian people, and that was it.
Starscream sat straighter in his chair, feeling a little proud despite his frustration with the whole situation and the cool energon was starting to soothe his nerves. "I just hope I can keep it that way." he said quietly and attempted to finish his cube.
"I'm sure you will." Contrail reached into his subspace and pulled out a small, black object that he held out to the other Seeker, "Anyway," he continued casually, "Senator Greenlight sends her greetings to Queen Nacelle, and please, give her my regards as well."
"Of course." Starscream took the datatrax and subspaced it. He knew perfectly well what it contained, though his fellow honourables no longer bothered to give these samizdats a second thought - and their personal possession was forbidden. Starscream would need to download the contents of the trax directly to his central processor and store it in his memory banks before he left the Grand Imperium to avoid suspicion, "Thank you, Advisor Contrail. I believe we should return to the chamber."
Thundercracker and Skywarp were waiting for him at the entrance of the rotunda. His blue trine mate was holding numerous datapads, but Starscream couldn't will himself to pay attention. It had been some time since he discovered Contrail kept datatraxes of the samizdats sent by the mysterious mech by the designation "D-16" and he promised him to keep his secret on one condition - if he provided him with at least the copies of those writings.
Senator Starscream had always been sensitive regarding the lower castes, but his voice alone didn't mean much. The Senate of Cybertron, the robots who were supposed to represent all their people and act in favour of their needs were becoming corrupted and their worlds limited to their own interests. Those who remained open towards others and actually wanted to give them all the freedom they needed were few and weak against the majority that rejected change - and reality.
That was why Starscream found the writings exceptionally intriguing - the 'bot who wrote them was clearly from a low class, just by the clarity and details of the things he wrote down, and the force of his words almost hurt. They were crude in their sincerity, yet the style told about some education. All those written speeches were so inspirational that Starscream couldn't just toss them away. The more he read, the more curious and interested he became about this mech.
The young representative of Vos let his mind wander even as the next session started. He would find out who this mech was. He needed to see who found himself strong enough to make a change and conquer their world for the better.
Soundwave lifted and rolled his hand as was instructed by Flatline. The appendage worked just fine.
The chief physician oversaw his treatment and reconstruction and Soundwave noticed a slight change in his demeanor. The mech hadn't been disrespectful before, but since their match with Megatron he - and all the others for that matter - treated him and spoke to him with newfound respect and even an air of admiration. It had taken a few solar cycles before he could get up from the ward's berth and his cassettes told him by now everyone in the arena knew who Soundwave was.
He had proven himself.
The medical staff did a good job on him, the telepath didn't even expect them to have such expertise; he figured only those medics came here who lost their jobs somehow or weren't good enough for common hospitals. Mainly Flatline and another medic, Stormbringer treated him - he turned out to be a surgeon with double specialty in the ventilation-cooling and waste secretion systems, he was the one who mended Soundwave's broken filters -, but his arm was replaced by two of the construction mechs by the designations Hook and Scrapper. By the end of his stay at the medical ward, Soundwave felt as good as new, much better than he felt in mega-cycles.
And now he was ready to leave the ward to go back to his creations.
"Good." Flatline gave him a small smile and grabbed Soundwave's new hand, gently rolling it again, "The wrist joint looks good, the cables are strong. It's painless, alright? Good. I'll finish my report to Master Onslaught and you can leave."
Soundwave gave a curt nod and saw his twins grin up at him. He knew Ravage stayed in their room and Laserbeak went out scouting in Kaon again. All his creations visited him every solar cycle and it seemed Frenzy was well enough for now - the smaller attacks Rumble could handle alone, and if something serious happened to Frenzy, they would have brought him to the ward. Now the mini-mechs were both eager to escort him back to their quarters.
"C'mon, creator, let's get out of here." Frenzy said cheerfully, however, before Soundwave could have got up from the berth, a familiar grey mech strode towards them.
"Before that, may I have a word with Soundwave?" Megatron asked, his tone polite towards the two mini-cons. Soundwave guessed it shouldn't have surprised him, after all, the gladiator had acted extraordinarily understanding since they met.
Megatron was allowed to leave the ward earlier, but they talked little during the time they had been treated together. Despite that, the mech turned out to be rather intelligent and had an exceptionally strong spirit, his mental strength admirable. He had a commanding presence and many - almost all - mechs and femmes in the arena respected and even feared him. Soundwave had to admit he enjoyed his company and looked forward to talking to him. However, he now put a hand on Rumble's shoulder to keep his sons from going away.
"You can speak in front of them. I don't keep secrets from my creations." came Soundwave's calm reply and Megatron gave a nod after a slight hesitation.
"Very well. I am sure you already know what I want to talk about anyway."
Soundwave frowned slightly. He had noticed earlier that the gladiator must have suspected something, but he didn't mention it nor gave any indication that he fully knew his secret. Seeing that Soundwave wasn't about to answer, Megatron continued,
"You managed to trick me during the match." he said calmly and lowered his voice, leaning closer to the other mech, "You could predict my moves - the only exception was when you were too tired to act quickly. You know, I have met a few dual-spark 'bots before, one of them was a telepath. He said it could occur in dual-sparks, so my suspicion is... you are one as well."
Soundwave's features straightened. He didn't see his twins look up at him with surprised and frightened optics - after all, he had been quite good at hiding his ability, but he saw no reason in denying the obvious. After all, he now wouldn't be able to convince the grey mech otherwise.
"I am." he replied in an equally quiet tone, "Does it mean I cannot continue on as a gladiator here?"
Megatron shook his head lightly, "If the others get a hold of this bit of information, they will refuse to fight you. I will keep your secret, and if you are more careful, you will be safe. How to deal with envy, I cannot give you an advise on that." he let out a faint chuckle, "You became quite famous. Mechs will want to challenge you. Your next match - if you want to stay - is already set and quite a few credits had been put on you, so Master Onslaught told me. Of course, you won't see much from it at first, but if you keep up this pace, things will get better for you all."
Soundwave nodded slowly, keeping his amber optics on the mech before him, "But this is not what you wanted to talk about."
Megatron raised an optical ridge in slight surprise, "That's right. I thought you could see my true intentions as well."
"Your mind becomes strangely shielded when you are secretive. You hide your thoughts well. During the fight, you were driven by your emotions, therefore it was easy to read you - now it's not that easy. So, may I ask what you want to talk about with me?"
"Hmm. Alright," Megatron straightened up, "at this time, I am recruiting mechs and femmes who had been abused, discarded and wiped away by our dear government. Those who have suffered from the corruption of the high classes. We already have resources, weapons and quite a few combat capable robots - our numbers are growing. We are all willing to fight for our freedom and make a change, as the Cybertronian race had become stagnant and is spiralling down; the ultimate result would be rebellion."
Soundwave's optics widened a little at the recognition of the last line. Of course, he had read Jhiaxus' last publication before it was censored and eventually prohibited altogether, he had considered the old scientist's words and came to agree with most of it. In the InfoCore, he had access to the whole DataNet, even to encrypted files from the police or the Senate itself. He knew about uprisings, mostly from the low castes that had been quelled by the enforcers even before they could have started.
About this... he knew nothing.
"You want me... to join you?" Soundwave asked uncertainly. It wasn't easy to make him feel that way, but he also felt that the mech was telling the truth. The memory of the thought in Cliffjumper's mind about the guns surfaced in his processor - those must have been the weapons Megatron was talking about, that Cliffjumper refused to show him along with the usual ones used by the combatants.
"This arena is the gathering place of the homeless, the hopeless, the forgotten... yet, even here, they cannot gain all the freedom they need. We have to fight for the little credits we earn - and for our lives. No one really cares about us here. Only we can understand what it is like to be oppressed, and you had the misfortune to experience it as well. Though, maybe it is fortunate that you got here, into our circles... we need mechs like you. Only those with the same experience can feel the depth of just how wrong our world has turned. And only we can have the spirit to even fight to turn it back. Back to when all were one... to a real Golden Age. I'm not asking you to change your morals all of a sudden - you can say no if you want to. But rebellion is inevitable; if we don't make it, someone else will. I am sure you do realize the circumstances cannot remain as they are."
Soundwave sighed deeply, "Believe me, I have seen many things through the InfoCore. I know that some change... must be made. But I already told you, Megatron... the reason I came here and agreed to fight was to get credits for Frenzy." he put an arm around the black mini-mech's shoulders, "My creations are the most important to me. I'm willing to fight for them, but as of now... that is all that drives me."
"Creator..." Rumble whispered, but did not say any more.
"You can back off, as I said." Megatron nodded, "I'm not forcing you into anything. All I ask of you is to think about it. I hope to talk to you again before your next match."
Soundwave nodded and finally got up from the berth when Megatron started walking away. However, before they exited the ward, Megatron turned back to him once more, "Oh, and before I forget; there is a mech waiting for you outside the arena. You have permission to go out and meet him."
Soundwave frowned, "Who is it?"
"He said he was an acquaintance of yours. A dual-spark like you."
Soundwave was now even more confused. He did not know any other dual-spark personally - who could this mech be? He couldn't dwell into his thoughts, though, for as soon as they left the ward and made their way towards their quarters, Rumble and Frenzy bombarded him with their worried questions.
"Creator, you can't go!"
"You don't have to fight more!"
"You don't wanna leave us, right?"
"Boys, boys..." Soundwave sighed, "I haven't even considered the idea yet. And I will never leave you. I... do find that Megatron was right and true about his statements, but I'm not going anywhere and I won't make decisions without you."
"But you..." Frenzy began with a frown, "you will consider him?"
The dual-spark waited a moment before he answered, "As I said, he was sincere in what he told me. I could feel that. And it is also true that... the people will eventually rebel. I had also read Jhiaxus' publication and works of social psychology in this matter, as had you when you were curious... or bored enough. The government cannot continue on like this with its current ways... something will happen."
"Okay, so you are considering it." Rumble murmured.
"I just said Megatron was right." Soundwave replied as calmly as he could, "And right now, I'm focusing on you. You are my top priority."
"Right, just don't set up your mind without telling us, okay?"
Soundwave let out another sigh, "Please, Rumble, don't be so difficult."
"Just askin'."
Frenzy chuckled lightly at the way Soundwave shook his head - there was always a tiny smile on his face that he tried to hide, but they saw it. Their creator could never be really angry at them, even if they would have deserved it, but Frenzy was sure they had been especially well-behaved recently, and he hadn't had any attacks in the past two deca-cycles apart from bounds of fatigue. Soundwave couldn't complain.
"Anyway," he black twin began, "who can this dual-spark be? I thought you didn't know any other."
"I don't." Soundwave answered.
"Maybe you caught his optics during your match." Rumble grinned up at him and fought the urge to wink when he saw Soundwave's expression.
"We don't know his intentions." his creator replied, the frown returning to his face.
"Yeah, whatever. Will you meet him?"
"I shall. I am curious what this robot's purpose was in requesting a meeting with me. I didn't even know gladiators were allowed to do that."
"Okay, go then. We'll be back in our quarters."
"See ya, Soundwave!" Frenzy waved to him and turned in the corridor leading to their room, and he did not hold back the wink. Soundwave could hear the twins giggling on their way and shook his head again. He certainly did not think it was that much fun. In fact, it left him quite nervous. A feeling he wasn't used to...
"Hey! You came!"
Even though the exclamation wasn't harsh, and the mech wore a moderate smile on his face, Soundwave couldn't help frown again. He managed to recognize the accent as Iaconian, but the mech couldn't have been a native speaker. He was the same height as him, his plating was ruled by the colour red and the speakers on his lower legs and shoulders indicated he either worked in communications or musical entertainment - as did the cheerful expression on his face. His voice also had a slight electrical echo, but Soundwave found it pleasant. The mech was radiating joy, like an island of light in the night, yet Soundwave couldn't help fidget a little before he could control it.
"I have been asking about you for solar cycles." the stranger continued, "I thought they won't let you out."
Neither took a step forward to shorten the distance and it was, for now, good enough for Soundwave.
"I am here now." he said calmly, "Why have you called me?"
"Hmm. Straightforward." the other dual-spark grinned, "To tell you the truth, you got me curious there. I watched your match with the champion Megatron and it was... quite hard. My designation is Blaster."
"Is that why you wanted to meet me? To tell me this?"
Blaster seemed to search his face, and Soundwave decided to use his momentary hesitation to sneak into his mind. However, at that precise klick, the mech, Blaster chuckled lightly.
"Like what you see in there?"
Soundwave optics widened at that; now he was truly shocked. No one had ever been able to feel it when he read their minds - it couldn't be felt! "How can you tell...? You are not a telepath."
"Yeah, I'm not one myself, but my sister is. She was always in our heads, I learnt to distinguish it when she decided to poke into our minds."
"I... didn't think it could be identified..." Soundwave said quietly with a newfound interest in the mech, "Your sister is a dual-spark, too?"
"Yes." Blaster nodded, "Me and sis are dual-sparks. Brother wasn't so lucky. So? Did you see the answer to your question?"
Soundwave shook his head slowly, still too much in a surprise to try again to read the other's mind. At this, Blaster continued, optical ridges raised, "Really? Strange... it's been all over my mind lately. Since I saw you fight, to tell the truth."
"And that is...?"
"That is, why do you fight at all? I saw your creations at the end of the match - at least, I had a wild guess they are yours seeing how they fussed around you when the medics took you away. I have seen... fights, but I've never even heard about a dual-spark entering the combats before. Exactly because... they have so much to lose. Our creations are dependent on us, even when they're adults. And I just couldn't figure out... what could have driven a mech like you to risk your life in a place like this?" Blaster spread his arms in a questioning way.
The mech's face was so expressive, Soundwave could have read him only by watching his expressions. What a contrast it was to him when he tried to hide his emotions to the best of his abilities from his face - he didn't like to reveal too much about himself at a time, only if he made sure it was safe enough. Soundwave found himself slightly mesmerized by such colourful display of emotions on a mech's face, but concentrated on the question that had been asked of him.
"Maybe I came here... because of my creations." he answered slowly, "Why is it so important to you? I don't know you."
"Now you know me." Blaster grinned, "But I see you don't open up easily. That's alright. I'm glad you at least came out to talk to me. Will you stay here? Have matches in the future?"
"Yes. I am staying and I will continue fighting... as long as necessary."
"When is your next match?"
"In two deca-cycles."
"Okay." Blaster's grin faded into a softer smile, and now he shifted on his pedes, "So, um... how many creations have you got?"
Soundwave watched his face, feeling a slight spike of uncertainty in him. "Four."
"Wow, that's cool! I have five... my treasure boxes, all of them." Blaster smiled again, and Soundwave detected a familiar fondness in his mind that was the same he felt towards his creations. This mech was... alike him, yet different. And his curiosity wasn't sated, even though he refrained himself from asking any more personal questions. Soundwave just watched him, watched the changes on the silver faceplates, trying to identify the emotions just by watching. He found that he could have just stood there and listen to the mech until he saw every little twitch of his features.
"Okay, I... guess that is all for now." Blaster finally said and raised his optics to Soundwave's with a shine of hopefulness, "Will I meet you again?"
Soundwave stood motionlessly, yet found himself nodding absently. It was clear the mech was still interested, and he couldn't deny that he had gained curiosity towards him as well.
"My designation is Soundwave."
And maybe it wouldn't be so bad to give in to his curiosity just this once.
Okay... that's it. Hope you liked it. :) Good night!