A/N: I know, been a bit, huh? Hopefully it was worth the waiting.

It seemed to take a little longer than usual for a complete thought to be formed and then for it to actually be completed. Perhaps it was because he was, in essence, scattered all over the floor of this makeshift med bay by none other than the Autobot medic who seemed to know everyone's nook and cranny. And he thought his luck was bad before…

The monotone Decepticon finally dared to speak. His voice crackled and buzzed what could have been a sentence, but the only thing intelligible was: "…Frenzy,"

Ratchet, who'd been busy with other things and not quite expecting Soundwave to even be awake, looked over at him with an unreadable gaze. Perhaps he too was trying to understand what Soundwave had uttered. He answered what he knew about the little pain in the aft, "Frenzy wasn't within what little armor casing you had left," his voice was dry. "It is believed that he killed himself back where the humans were keeping Megatron and the cube,"

"Why… am I here?" This time each word was at least intelligible. Progress… however, the broken tone still screeched strangely, making Ratchet cringe, proving Soundwave still needed a lot of repair.

Ratchet stopped what he was doing and pointed a laser at Soundwave's vocal processor then read from his data pad, "You shouldn't even be speaking, 'Con. You'll do more damage than good. And it was me who brought you here," he answered quickly, reaching for another tool, "…much to the disgust of the other Autobots. I don't see how anyone would have missed your crash but it appears you were there for a long while,"

"You saved me…" The priest stated with obvious confusion. Was an Autobot actually helping a Decepticon?

Ratchet gave a good, hard look at Soundwave. The Decepticon was just not acting himself. He wasn't even speaking correctly for as long as he'd known him. His voice wasn't off; it was how he spoke. Since when did he speak of himself in the first person?

"I suppose so," The medic replied hesitantly, wondering if Soundwave realized what he was doing or not. He then took his attention away from the obvious stare he was giving the Decepticon and lifted a small tube to examine it before bringing it back down to the table.

Soundwave saw the look but he had no idea why he'd gotten it. But then again, he was a Decepticon, wasn't he? Decepticons got all kinds of looks from Autobots, so really, this should have been nothing different. He was more interested in why The Autobot medic was helping him. It was nearly – if not completely unheard of, especially for one like himself. He was one of the most disgusted Decepticons that Megatron had ever had the privilege of using. He only had one question: "Why?"

Ratchet replied, "Because," He turned slightly with the vile of bluish liquid and held it to the line that was hooked to the mech before giving Soundwave another sideways glance, "I'm not as cold as that bastard Megatron was. And you're wanted for questioning in regards to many fatal cases against the Autobots." His reply was dark, hatred spewing from the words he spoke. He turned with the fluid which he had since put into an injector. "Now, lean forward, this has to go right into your sensor and nerve system."

Soundwave glanced between both the medic and what he thought he was going to inject his body with in one of the most painful places. He was tired of feeling pain, honestly. He wanted a break.

"Move it, I don't have all day," Ratchet growled, standing up behind Soundwave's head. He waited another moment for the mech to move and when he did not, he quickly jabbed the mech right into a sensory system in the neck and shoulder, causing Soundwave to let out a screech because of the pain. "Would have hurt less if you had done as I told you,"

Soundwave was stunned with pain for a moment before he looked back at the medic who had proceeded to do his own thing. Deep in the priest's mind something called to him, something familiar. He gazed in the general direction which was to his general left.

Three other mechs, who were in a different building all stopped at the sound. "Heh, sounds like Soundwave survived," Ironhide groused, glancing in the general direction of the scream.

Optimus Prime looked from Ironhide and glanced in the direction of Ratchet and his patient with concern. Soundwave might become a problem and he hoped that Ratchet had taken that in mind.

Back in Tranquility, at about the same time, Sam was woken abruptly. He sat up in bed when he heard Bumblebee's horn and assumed it was him who'd woken him. He screwed his eyes shut, vaguely remembering the odd dream he'd just had about apparent priests, female robots and that damned cube.

He shook himself awake after he realized he was not going to make sense of the dream and leaned out the window. The instant brightness made him squint and the reflection of the sun off of the Camaro sitting in his driveway did not help matters any.

"Come on, Sam!" Mikaela called from the side of the car. "Me and Bee got some things Ratchet needs for his new patient!"

With a groan, Sam yelled back down, "I'll be down in a minute!"

He had heard a thing or two about the new captive. They had nothing good to say about him, but Sam was just curious – or what he considered to be curiousness. He felt a cold chill run down his spine at the thought of the Decepticon. He figured that maybe it was remembering the mark Megatron had instilled in him. The evilness, the coldness, the ruthlessness.

Back on Cybertron, Starscream was still busy trying to rally up the Decepticons to go back to Earth. He hadn't taken a liking much to Sunstorm, who seemed to be as pushy as he, himself, was. However, the new leader had found a use for him for now, and that was to pilot the ship along with Shockwave. He was a good pilot, as Starscream had found out on a joyride that he and 4 other seekers had taken with another starship a while back. He'd actually stumbled across him being picked on by another trine.

That was how he had also found Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet, all of which were going back to Earth as well, much to their displeasure. He needed all the reinforcements he could get, especially if he was to set his plan in motion, and that included capturing the Witwicky boy from the Autobotst He wanted Sam for no other reason but to put a dent in the Autobot's armor and make them suffer.

After some debate with other higher Decepticons, it was decided that they would not destroy the planet because it seemed suitable to try to rebuild what was left of their race. He wasn't even sure how he would go about it because the Allspark had been destroyed and Soundwave was also dead. There were other means, and he would find them, even if he had to scour the galaxy to find them.

"The Nemesis will be ready for flight in a few joors," Shockwave's voice came over the com system of the starship. He had been working on the main control room, prepping it for takeoff.

Thundercracker and Skywarp both emerged from around the ship with Sunstorm and Starscream nodded, "Sunstorm, you are to help Shockwave with piloting this ship."

Sunstorm gave Starscream a look, "Why does he need my help? Wasn't he supposed to be the only one who can pilot it?"

"Because I said so! That's why!" Starscream growled, making both Thundercracker and Skywarp back up. Sunstorm, however stood his ground, his fists balling up in his hands as he stomped off towards the entrance to the ship.

Starscream looked at the other two, "Get everyone else ready to leave," He demanded before pivoting on one foot and turning to enter the Nemesis himself. Thundercracker and Skywarp both looked at each other a long moment before they too took off, hunting the rest of the Decepticons who were not already on the starship.

They seemed to arrive in record time. Bumblebee dropped Sam and Mikaela off with Optimus while he brought Ratchet's supplies to him. The scout had heard Ratchet talking as he got close. It wasn't uncommon to find him talking to himself, but he knew for sure the medic was talking to someone else just by how he spoke. He almost swore he heard someone else's voice, but there was too much noise to make it out for sure.

"Who you talking to in there, Ratchet?" Bumblebee approached the door. There he saw the great doctor administering some sort of liquid to the Decepticon. Soundwave glanced toward the sound of the voice, his strange glowing optics pierced Bee's own mind, making him shudder.

Soundwave also realized his vulnerability when he saw the small Autobot glaring at him. He knew in his current state that he could be easily killed. He'd hoped the look he gave the young Autobot was enough to ward him off. Shortly after, Bumblebee growled something in Cybertronian and walked out.

"Already making friends, I see," Ratchet muttered to the stasis locked Decepticon as he worked.

Soundwave's mind was jumbled. Things were waking in him – many of which he was too injured to understand. Things that had been put to rest under the Decepticon leader long ago were now coming back full force. He supposed it had to do with Frenzy bolting on him, but his logic circuits tried to tell him it was something else. That there was some other force at work here, but he did not know what. The emotions started to tug on him, overwhelming him of things that could only be explained as the feeling of falling. It was too much to handle… too much to comprehend. His optics went dark as he was rushed with this new feeling. It was overwhelming and he gave into it.

Ratchet grew wild when he saw the sudden energy crash on the nearby monitor, "Oh no you don't!" He grunted, knowing that Soundwave was crashing, and to save him, he forced the mech back on recharge. The mech went well to sleep, his reading evening out again.

The medic watched his signs even out. All the while, he wondered what had happened. The 'Con was as healthy as he could be given his circumstance and there was no explanation as to why he suddenly went south. Perhaps more was going on with him than what he realized.

About 10 minutes later, Prime's voice rang to him through their Autobot comm. Link. "Ratchet: Status report,"

"He's... alive, Prime," Ratchet sent back, busily working on Ravage's body, who seemed to have taken the most beating.

"Alive?" Optimus sounded shocked. Almost. "What's his status?" Prime demanded immediately, worried more for the safety of his men and the humans.

"He's no danger, I can guarantee you that." Ratchet declared with an optic over his shoulder on the mech, "I put him into stasis lock for more invasive repairs." he paused as he quickly looked back to his current work, fixed a circuit on Ravage and then proceeded, "He's gone under some heavy stress, both bodily and circuitry. Something is going on with him, but I can't read the wavelengths he's using."

"What about the symbiots?"

Ratchet continued to run amuck with words as he told his leader the status on the smaller 'Cons, "The symbiots are barely alive. I have been working on Ravage but I still cannot get him to come out of stasis lock. It might be too late for him.

"As for Rumble, he is being kept alive by a secondary spark compartment until I can repair his bodily damage. Laserbeak is in emergency stasis lock. I am assuming all of their sparks were close to dying by the looks of them, but I haven't gotten complete readings yet. I won't be able to tell until they wake up… if they wake up at all."

Prime could hear by his tone that Ratchet was becoming annoyed. He must have been breaking concentration. "Very well. Alert me of any change,"

"Yes, sir," Ratchet let out a small sigh in relief and shut the com off to continue. In a way he was thankful that Optimus had stopped talking so he could finish his task at hand.

As if it was empathy itself coming to Sam, who winced slightly, unsure of where it was coming from, he scanned the area, looking for its source. Unsure of where to find it, but he knew it was coming from close by. He wasn't even positive how he could feel the feelings of others. His eyes stopped on the building where Ratchet was working on the Decepticon.

Bumblebee had seen him from the side and his interest perked at Sam's sudden interest in Ratchet's work area. He wanted to run up and thwart him from entering, knowing that beast was in there. Even though he was in a bunch of pieces, the scout was sure Soundwave could and would still hurt his friend. As he went to go for him, Sam disappeared into the room.

"I think… I think he's hurting Ratchet,"

The CMO quickly turned around at the sound of Sam's voice. Why in the name of Primus had he come in? Didn't he realize how dangerous Soundwave really was? Ratchet stopped, "What are you doing in here boy? And how would you know anything about him?"

"…I-" Sam stared blankly at the medic for the longest time, unsure what to say. Ratchet only stared back at him intently, wondering what he was up to.

"Well?" the medic demanded.

He had no idea how or why. With a glance to his arm, he answered, "I don't know, Ratch, he just is,"

"Decepticons don't feel, Samuel. Especially not this one." Ratchet glowered at the boy, "They are killers with only an appetite to rule." The mech looked up at Soundwave, "And he's been wanted by the Autobots for the countless atrocities he has done."

"He does," Sam pointed to Soundwave who was still out cold, walking near the Decepticon, he looked at him intensely, "He's not like Megatron, you know." Sam put his hands in his pockets, following the thoughts that were coming to him almost naturally.

What would this kid know in any case? It was kind of insulting in a way. "Hn," Ratchet grew annoyed with the teen in his lab. His words were confusing. How was this Decepticon any different from any other? To him, he wasn't. He had seen him so many times in battle, how dark and consumed by hatred he was. This was of utmost confusion. How could he possibly tell how the Decepticon felt? He was after all, only human. In no way connected to the mechs. Or so he thought. "You know not what you speak of," Ratchet stated. "now go on, get outta here."

Something came over him like a wave and he felt dizzy. Blinking a few times to try to set his mind straight, he realized it wasn't working. Instantly his mind went to his wound. And that was the last thing Sam remembered.

The boy walked closer, as if he had no fear whatsoever that the Decepticon before him could flick him into the next century. Stopping short of Soundwave's feet, he suddenly spoke words no human could know, "My protector turned on me."

That caught Ratchet off guard. "Wait, what?"

That also caught Bumblebee in the spark. What was Sam saying? How had he turned on him?

"He killed all of them except this one when this one wasn't aware." 'Sam' rambled, "I can only assume that it would give him ultimate control over the powers if there was only one very powerful priest and such priest worked for him,"

Even Bumblebee who still stared at Soundwave with abhor was too shocked by what Sam was saying. How could he know about that? He darted his head to look at his human friend. Something was off about him but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Sam? Are you all right? What are you talking about?"

There was almost a growl from the boy, and he turned sharply, "Don't you understand?" his voice was raised, and the Autobots were unsure how to take him. His voice went normal and he gazed at Soundwave once more, "I thought it was over… There is no one left. Soundwave is the last." He then looked back toward the giant before him. "I cannot let my last priest fall…"

Something observable went between the Decepticon and the child. The body of the Decepticon jolted and began convulsing in a disturbingly bizarre way. The weird feelings Sam had been feeling in his arm prior came to life when met with Soundwave's healing powers and what hid deep within him. The small yet enormous snap of energy between them threw Sam to the floor.

"Sam! no!" Ratchet yelled.

Oooh, a cliffie ^^