A/N: Hey you guys! Thank you for all of the: alerts, favourites and reviews you all have given me. It means a lot to me and encourages me to keep going. I hope you enjoy what I have in store for you all today! I can't believe I'm almost up to 300 reviews too. *Squees* Thank you all so much.

Warnings: Battle violence and light swearing.

Disclaimer: No, transformers are not mine.

Turning Point – Chapter 19

"Something's not right with Soundwave."

Starscream broke off from his conversation with Skyfire and Wheeljack, looking down at the feline cassette near his pedes. "Meaning?" he asked imperiously.

Ravage flicked his tail in annoyance. "Something tells me he's heading into danger. You're the fastest mech on base. If I feel anything negative, are you willing to find my creator?" the eldest cassette asked calmly, his red optics boring into Starscream's own.

"Why me and not Blaster?" asked the jet.

Ravage tilted his helm and continued to stare.

Shrugging the Seeker replied, "Fine. Alert me."

"You are not going to take me back to the Nemesis. I will not be treated like that again," Soundwave said lowly, moving to the side as Shockwave began to circle him, tapping his laser cannon arm against his thigh. He couldn't run, and if he did he wouldn't get far. Fighting was his only choice.

He didn't like it one bit, not even the satisfaction of showing the purple mech who was superior could hold any value for him.

Shockwave made a sound that sounded like a mirthless, considering hum. "Treated like what, Soundwave? You abandoned our leader when all he wanted was for you to service him in the way that he wanted. Was that so hard? No…you had to betray our Lord, and he wants to back by his side to conquer the universe," Shockwave said, and it was in such a way one might of thought he was reading out a datapad on energon figures.

The telepath found himself bristling with anger. "You are saying then, that I have no choice if my leader wishes to use me in such a way?"

"Yes. We give him our all, as is our pledge. Now…be a good little telepath and come back to the Nemesis with me," the mono-opticed mech said, beckoning with his fingers.

Growling, Soundwave found himself uttering words he'd thought he'd never say before in a battle.

"Over my dead body."

Desperation and fear drove only part of his actions as he lurched forward, sonic cannon on his shoulder humming. Much of it was anger. Anger at Shockwave for being so subservient, at Megatron, for taking advantage of his loyalty and expecting him to come back to the Decepticons. Anger anger anger! He aimed his sonic cannon towards Shockwave's cannon arm, knowing that it wouldn't hit. It was a distraction for him to swing his left fist towards the purple helm. Shockwave, not expecting such a dramatic deviation from Soundwave's traditional fighting style, was caught off guard, dodging the cannon blast but failing to duck the punch. His processor rang with the force, and he thrust his own fist up, hitting a shoulder.

"I have underestimated you Soundwave," hissed Shockwave, ducking and jabbing his cannon arm into a side seam, making his opponent hiss in pain.

Twisting out of the purple mech's grip, Soundwave snarled back, "Like I underestimated your capacity for depravity." He then elbowed the other mech in his side, before charging up his sonic cannon again and blasting Shockwave's cannon arm.

The purple mech halted for a moment, staring at his cannon hand, damaged from the sub harmonics emitted from the telepaths sonic cannon, disrupting the circuits. His yellow gaze seemed to narrow into a deadly beam on intent. Without another word, Shockwave barrelled into Soundwave, knocking him to the ground with all his strength. He struggled to pin the others arms, getting hit multiple times in the chest plate by flailing fists, before grabbing the blue mechs hands and pinning them to his sides. Soundwave continued to struggle, making little grunts and growls every now and then in his ire.

If Shockwave could smirk, he would. He loomed over the visored mech and whispered lowly, "I can see why Megatron found you so appealing under him like this. Such a perfect, dirty little whore, aren't you?"

Soundwave stilled, ice flowing through his energon lines.

He was trapped by the larger body, their pelvic spans dangerously close to each other.

No….no…nonononononono! This was not going to happen to him again!

Out of nowhere, the faces of his cassettes, Blaster, and Prowl flashed in front of his optics. It gave him a grain of determination and he tried to buck the purple mech off, but failed. Shockwave leaned over him completely, and whispered, "Maybe…I shall have a taste of what my leader has. After this, no one, not even your pathetic cassettes will touch you again."

Soundwave threw his helm back with an almighty roar as he used every bit of strength in him to throw Shockwave off him. The single opticed mech gasped as he landed a few feet away, rolling in the dirt.

Standing tall, the telepath looked down at his opponent, visor blazing with fury and his frame tensed in anger. He was too furious to let the part of his processor crying out that he was untouchable, weak for letting Shockwave knock him over, take over.

Shockwave made an odd sound that could have been an approving chuckle. "Now this fight is something worthy," he said, getting to his own feet, making as if to charge, but pulling a small blade out of subspace and throwing it as Soundwave. In the dark, the flash of the sliver of metal was hard to see. The blue mech was too slow in sidestepping, the blade embedding itself deep into his shoulder below his cannon, cutting the neural lines to it.

Twisting his lips in disgust at the purple mech, the telepath murmured darkly, "This ends now."

"Oh really?"

The question was a mock, a scoff, a taunt to Soundwave's fury.

"Yes."

Gathering up his mental power, Soundwave growled as he released a bolt of pure anger at the other mech's processor, shattering the usually firm mental walls. Realising this, Shockwave tried to re-fortify his walls, but another mental blast of white hot fury halted him. He fell as Soundwave stepped closer to him, continuing on with his mental attack, of walls of mental energy completely slamming into his processor, blinding him to everything but agony.

For the first time in a long time, Shockwave found himself fearful of another mech.

For the first time in a long time, Shockwave found himself yelling as a thousand energon blades felt like they were ripping him apart.

For the first time in a long time…Shockwave wished himself to be back on his lonely abode on Cybertron.

He tried to crawl, to escape the barrage, but he was paralysed. With a groan, he collapsed completely, twitching in the dirt. Slowly, he felt the mental invader remove itself from his thoughts, and he could intake air again. Shockwave lay there, dimly registering the sound of jet engines.

Soundwave looked down at the twitching purple mech.

He hadn't released a telepathic onslaught like that in quite some time. Not since back on Cybertron, in the thick of the war…intaking deeply, Soundwave brought his hands up, realising that they were shaking. Shuttering his optics, the blue mech gathered his clashing thoughts, enabling him to hear the sounds of a jet engine rumbling nearer. A mech transformed, and the now less-screechy voice of Starscream remarked, "It looks like you didn't need me after all."

Turning and opening his optics again, Soundwave murmured a tad shakily, "Perhaps…the battle actions and emotions are unfamiliar after so much time…who alerted you?"

Shrugging, the Seeker replied, "Ravage. Thought I'd come to where he told me to just in case. Optimus, Ratchet, and Blaster are on their way." Ruby optics surveyed the downed form of Shockwave with a sneer. "I must congratulate you. I've wanted to see that glitch of a glitch fall for a long time." He then turned his attention back to the telepath, and he frowned. Something wasn't right about Soundwave. He stepped forward and carefully asked, "Soundwave? Do you…require assistance? There is energon on your plating on your side and your shoulder."

In a daze, trying to come to grips with everything: with Blasters undying love for him, being attacked, attacking telepathically, feeling that hot wash of shame rise again – Soundwave looked down, gingerly brushing his fingers over the wound where the cannon had been jerked into. "I will wait until Ratchet arrives," he said, looking back to the tricoloured mech who was looking uncertainly at him.

He opened his mouth to ask Starscream how long it would take for the others to get there, not noticing the twitching mech behind him silently stagger upright, his healed laser cannon charging with a quiet hum.

Starscream's optics widened as Shockwave brought his arm up, and instinctively he pushed Soundwave to the side and behind him, flicking his wings high, arching back…

…before throwing his helm forward in the direction of his enemy and letting out an audial splitting scream, high pitched, his vocaliser weapon engaging.

Soundwave groaned in agony from the pitch, but was safe behind the Seeker as the frequency of the scream noise increased.

The same could not be said for Shockwave, who was knocked back from the force of the scream. His panic flared immediately. He knew what this was. He had been the one to supply the suppression virus for Starscream's vocaliser to Megatron. He yelled as Starscream, looking fiendish under the light of the moon, pushed his vocaliser further, higher, more powerful.

One moment, Shockwave was conscious.

The next, the weapon reached its zenith and shorted out his audials, shattering them, before destroying the small wires in his processor that allowed him to process and be sentient.

When Starscream closed his mouth, taking a deep intake, the body of Shockwave slumped on the ground, helm crackling with electricity and yellow optics fritzing out.

The tricoloured Seeker panted from the effort of maintaining his scream for that high, and for that long. "You will never…never touch anyone again," he rasped, dropping to his knees, a hard sense of victory claiming all his being. He had rendered the once-Con guardian of Cybertron effectively processor dead, only functioning with a spark, unable to think or behave normally for the rest of his existence.

Which, if he got his way, would be short.

He turned, his optics meeting with Soundwave's visor.

The telepath had his hands over his audials, but due to his position behind Starscream – where the audio waves would not be anywhere near as strong or effective – he was unharmed from his vocaliser weapon. The Seeker shuffled over, feeling the insane desire to laugh at the shocked expression on the blue mech's face. The situation reminded him of that night Soundwave had rescued them and encouraged them to leave the Nemesis. He whispered, "You saved my life. Now I'm just returning the favour."

Soundwave parted his lips to speak, only to be interrupted by the sound of an ambulance whoop nearby.

The telepath looked back to the flier to express his gratitude, but a knowing and understanding look shared between the two resolved any need to verbally talk.

Within seconds the familiar alt mode of Optimus Prime came into view, followed closely by Ratchet's. As they slid to a stop in their haste, the ambulance's back doors flung themselves open and Blaster leaped out, transforming from his boom box alt mode as he did so.

Blaster was alarmed and he moved to where Starscream and Soundwave were kneeling in silence, not far from the still form of Shockwave. More sounds of transformation were heard as Optimus and Ratchet stood upright. The medic saw the telepath's wounds and immediately went to his side, keeping himself in full view of the blue mech as he grumbled and got his mini-welder out of subspace.

"What happened?" asked Optimus firmly, warily going over to the comatose mech and nudging the frame with the tip of a pede.

Starscream glanced at Soundwave, but the blue mech looked blank behind his visor. He said, "I don't know what happened before I got here, but when I did, Soundwave had Shockwave unconscious. I was talking and…well…"

Here the Seeker hesitated, wondering if his vocaliser would be changed back to what it used to be if he revealed what he had done.

"Go on," encouraged the semi, optics unjudging above the facemask.

Sighing, Starscream went on, "Shockwave got up again, about to attack with his cannon, when I shoved Soundwave out of the way and screamed." At the Prime's confused look, the jet elaborated. "Ratchet may not have told you, but my vocaliser was under a virus. It suppressed my normal speaking tone, and the weapon inbuilt there. According to Ratchet, if I scream loud and high enough, I will be able to shatter audials and render a mech's processor defunct. A feat that I have seemingly achieved tonight."

Starscream's tone quietened as he continued to speak, until his voice was no higher than a whisper.

The group stood in silence for a moment, before Optimus nodded in resignation. "It was self defence. I cannot blame you for that, Starscream. It was a noble thing to do, to remove Soundwave from harm's way. However…" As the Seeker felt a sense of dread creep up on him, the Autobot leader surprised him with a lighter, teasing tone. "If you feel the need to scream at an unfortunate mini-bot or twin, please try to restrain yourself."

The Seeker smirked, but turned his attention back to Soundwave. He, as well as the rest of them, had noticed that the telepath was being far too still and quiet.

"Wave?" Blaster asked tentatively.

He was still confused as to why his friend was out here in the first place. One minute, Soundwave had been in his booth, listening to him singing, and the next, he was gone.

He had no idea why.

After all, Soundwave still had no clue of the depths of his feelings, so he thought that singing that song would have been all right. It was a way of declaring how he felt with no one knowing.

Blaster frowned as Soundwave looked up at him, still blank, still silent, before turning to Ratchet and letting the medic tend to him.

"Oh frag it, dirt is getting in my joints. Prime, I'm going to bring Soundwave back to base, while you all do something about that purple monster," groused Ratchet, standing and transforming, holding open his back doors in invitation. An invitation that Soundwave readily took, thankful of the escape from the chaos inside his mind. The medic was a calming presence to him, for all his brashness. As he transformed, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was unworthy once more.

Optimus Prime stood over the body of Shockwave.

He marvelled at how the mech still existed, and if it were not for his spark, he'd be completely deactivated. He nudged it again with his pede, and turned to Starscream, Blaster, and the newly arrived Prowl to ask, "What shall we do? I commed Ratchet as he left earlier, and he expresses no desire to fix his processor as it would be a severe drain to our resources."

"Rip his spark out," Starscream threw out bitterly.

"That is not our way," the Matrix-bearer reminded gently. He could understand the Seeker's bitterness, but he must uphold the principles he himself stood by and endorsed.

"He is no longer sentient. If we send him back to the Nemesis, even if Megatron forced them to starve until he was fixed, the Constructicons wouldn't be able to get him sentient again. So…rip his spark out. Or you can let me do it, I have no qualms," repeated Starscream crossing his arms over his cockpit, tone tinged with that same weary bitterness and hate he used to carry around before his turnaround.

"It'd make the 'Bots wary of ya again," pointed out Blaster. He itched to know what had happened between Soundwave and the mech before them before Starscream had arrived. What could have happened to revert Soundwave to silent?

"I don't care," spat Starscream.

"Ease," commanded Prowl. His tactical computer had run the scenario and he found the most viable solution. "Starscream does have a point, sir. Shockwave is no longer fully sentient and he can no longer be fully sentient without a processor to channel his sparks consciousness. We cannot fix him, but perhaps we can place him under imprisonment."

Optimus inquired, "He'd still need energon for his frame under imprisonment in the brig, wouldn't he?"

Prowl shook his helm slightly. "I'm not talking about that type of imprisonment. Rather, we place his spark into stasis lock. After that, he no longer inhabits his frame, and we can smelt it down for parts that we can utilise while keeping him efficiently contained. In effect, we will be upholding our morality code by enabling him to survive, even though it will be in containment. That way he is kept away from society and justice is done, and it is not a drain on our much needed resources."

The larger mech pondered this for a moment, before turning to the Seeker and asking, "Is this agreeable to you?"

Starscream huffed. "The self-satisfaction factor is down but…yes."

Optimus nodded and commed Skyfire.

The shuttle may not like it, but they needed to cart the body back to base.

Ratchet bustled around his medbay, getting the right tools set up as he fully tended to the injuries on Soundwave's frame. There weren't many, but the cannon wound in his side was still leaking energon, even with his quick patch job, and the blade stuck in the shoulder wiring looked nasty. As he tended to the damage, he said, "You're too quiet."

"I know," replied Soundwave.

The telepath was still staring blankly and in no particular direction, and it worried the medic. He paused, cradling the younger mechs chin and asked gently, "What happened out there?"

Soundwave couldn't help but be drawn to those compassionate blue optics. The first few words were hard to get around, but as soon as they got out, the rest of the words flowed. He talked about how he had been out there, thinking, when Shockwave had startled him and their subsequent fight. His tone became strained as he described how the other mech had pinned him, tortured him with words.

He paused as he came to the part of his telepathic attack, before forging ahead, describing slamming his rage against Shockwave's processor, making him feel pain until he gave in.

"Nothing seems to settle down for you, does it?" asked Ratchet, sarcasm tinging his tone as he caressed Soundwave's helm as he continued to work.

Soundwave let out a small sigh in agreement.

Ratchet hummed in thought, a detail noticed that hadn't been given enough elaboration. "But why on Earth were you out there, alone, in the first place? It's not like you. I'm tempted to hit you over the head with a wrench, but it wouldn't get the message across," he asked.

The telepath shifted uncomfortably, the issue of Blaster, of his friend, being so in love with him he would do anything for him. It made him so uncomfortable he was tempted to erase his own databanks and live by the saying 'Ignorance is bliss.' When Ratchet poked him lightly in the side, insisting, he murmured, "If only you promise not to talk about it with any other but me."

The medic frowned, but nodded, reaching over to wipe his hands on a rag, finished with repairs.

"Tonight, at the party…I managed to discover Blasters depth of feelings for me," Soundwave said quietly.

Ratchet stared, before shaking his helm. "Oh boy. I hoped this wouldn't happen."

"Meaning?" inquired the blue mech innocently.

There was a small smirk playing about the porcelain face as Ratchet replied, "Almost all of the other mechs don't know, but I'm a medic. Not only do I specialise in the art of healing, but I can read bots. I know Blaster's been pining for you for a long time, even worse since we've been here on Earth. He's managed to hide it pretty well since you've been here, because you've been hurting and he knows that. But yeah. Blaster's been madly in love with you."

"…that's why I was out there. I was trying to...see what I felt about it."

"How did you find out?"

"Rumble and Frenzy alerted me to his looks towards me while he was singing," replied the telepath, feeling a weight lifting of his shoulders just from talking about it. He was still uncertain – and by Primus did he hate that emotion – but at least he had a confidante. A few, if he talked to Prowl about it. "I was curious and looked telepathically inside of his processor. What I found there…"

"It was powerful wasn't it?" asked Ratchet with a knowing expression. Truthfully, he was surprised that Blaster hadn't slipped earlier.

"Yes. He cares," murmured Soundwave thoughtfully.

Shrugging, the smaller mech said, "Well, you know now. You can't change it, and you seem to have accepted it as a fact. If you want my advice? Pretend you don't know. If it all comes out now, especially with your mental stress with your telepathic attacks, it could damage your friendship."

The blue mech stayed silent, thinking hard. For a telepath, he found his thoughts to be uncontrollable. Ratchet sensed this, gave him some energon, and left him be for the moment.

Alone, Soundwave's thoughts turned in another direction. He couldn't suppress the shudder that made its way over his frame at the thought of Shockwave straddling him, taunting him. Sipping his energon, he took deep vents to centre himself. 'Dirty.' Shockwave had called him a whore and that word.

It had been a month. Surely the after affects of his abuse would have toned down. But upon hearing those words again, said in such a context, he felt himself reverting. Was he still good enough to be the protector for his cassettes? Would he still appeal to Blaster? Although he may not return the feelings in such a way, the fact that he was found to be desirable was an uplifting, if awkward, moment.

"Hey."

He turned his helm towards the medbay doors, seeing Blaster leaning against the frame.

"Hello."

Blaster smiled gently at him, and he could see the love in those blue optics. It made Soundwave feel slightly bashful at knowing his mere presence had that affect on the red and yellow mech. He fiddled with his energon cube, remind himself to act normal, like nothing changed, as his friend made his way over to him.

"You okay?" asked the boom box, reaching out a hand to clasp a broad blue shoulder.

Soundwave tensed, and Blaster frowned. "What did that glitch do to you?" Blaster asked, tone hard.

The telepath merely canted his helm to the side, and his fellow split-spark understood immediately. "He tried to….didn't he?"

"Yes," answered the blue mech.

Blaster growled, wishing he could punch something, but refrained. "He's a glitch. But you fought him, 'Wave. Ya got him real good. It's good to see you so strong again."

Strong? He was strong? Well…he and Starscream did manage to take down one of the most dangerous Decepticons in history.

So why couldn't he feel victory as the Seeker undoubtedly had?

When Soundwave kept silent, the red and yellow mech felt even more concern. What was Soundwave hiding within his processor? What was he not letting him see? Pushing it out of his mind, he stretched and said, "C'mon. Let's go home and rest, it's been a long day." He held out his hand in invitation.

Soundwave stared at the hand, then slowly eased his own into it.

Act normal.

It was a challenge he wanted to achieve.

A/N:….well…..I hope you liked that fight scene. I'm really nervous about posting it. But I can't think of any other way of writing it. So I hope you all found it tense and entertaining.

Please review! ;D love ya!

Yes, Soundwave's mind is in a flux again. Let's just see where this goes, hmm?

Up next:….well, it's a surprise.