Hello again and happy belated New Year! I am so super sorry this chapter took so long to write, and I'm very sorry this one is just as dry as the last one. There is a lot of focus on Soundwave and his emotions, and a small glimpse into how Knockout really feels towards Breakdown. Cass is still his sweet self, but he is also stating to show more of his true colors… Don't worry, all of them are good colors. I promise in the next chapter I will do my best add some more stickiness, and bring the story back towards Megatron and his relationship with Cass. Hang in there my fellow readers, it will turn around.

Special shout outs to: Everyone! Thank you all for reading and being patient with me. I work very hard for living, but will always do my best to work hard on my stories. And as long as people still have fun reading them, I will keep writing them.

Don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you think or if you have any questions.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any stocks, trades, or licensing from the Transformers franchise. All rights are reserved for HASBRO entertainment.

MERCY

Chapter 10

Logic or Emotion

As soon as Soundwave stepped into the communications bridge, Laserbeak dislodged from her master's chassis and flew over to her usual spot. It was a low hanging banister that she had claimed for herself some time ago, and when Soundwave didn't need her help with any surveillance she would perch there and wait until his daily tasks were finished. She stretched her wings over the shelf and chirped in respite, but also jittered when the crack over her hull stretched slightly. Soundwave stood next to her and momentarily stroked her frame. Laserbeak's injury was giving her some grief, but if it wasn't threatening her function then her repairs would have to wait. She cooed and nuzzled Soundwave's servo before she finally settled into a brief recharge.

When Soundwave was sure she was feeling relaxed he strode away to focus on the mission at hand. He approached one of many computer consoles in the room then extracted his data feelers and began his infiltrating. If things ran smoothly the reconnaissance wouldn't take too long, and if there was enough surveillance feed, he would be able to repair Laserbeak while he was observing Breakdown's movements. Unfortunately for the communications officer, a ghost town on the edge of the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia was not very notorious for its technological advances but thank Primus for Soviet paranoia. There were only two or three CCTV cameras that were still functional, yet almost around every corner there was a listening device of some kind that he was able to activate. Not all to his surprise, Soundwave also found some newly installed seismographs that were currently hooked into a make shift network. He didn't know if it really be of any help, but he set it aside in his minds-eye for later if any occasion really called for it.

"Breakdown to Soundwave." The third in command's comm link buzzed for his attention. Breakdown had already been bridged down to Russia some time ago, so an update was bound to register sooner or later. "I just finished following the original energon signal to its original source, and I've got good news and bad news."

"Soundwave: Receiving Breakdown." He replied to the former wrecker as his visor flashed with new information. "Go ahead for intel."

"The bad news is that the signal led me nearly right under the base of the mountain. If we were to try mining so close to an active volcano, well you don't have to be a geologist to tell that that would be a bad idea."

"Query: The good news?"

"Good news is my scanners picked up a signal coming from a very large fault line that leads away from the mountain. It ends just a few miles out of the abandoned town, but I've got a hunch there may be a run off deposit somewhere. I'm going to drive around and see if I can pick anything up now. Do you have eyes on me?"

"Negative." Soundwave answered as he activated a large cluster of listening devices throughout the ghost town. "Visual aid: Severely limited. Audio surveillance: Only venue."

"Damn." Breakdown sighed heavily. "That's not really what I wanted to hear. This reading is bigger than anyone thought it would be, so there is a good chance of Autobot interference… But if audio is the best we got, it'll have to do." There was a brief pause, and Soundwave deduced that Breakdown was transforming into his alt-mode and preparing to drive off. "I'm going to drive in to the town now. From where I am ETA should be about a half hour if there are no major obstacles on route. I will check in on arrival. Breakdown out."

A half hour was not enough time to repair Laserbeak's hull like he planned, but it was plenty of time for the third in command to methodically contemplate everything that has happened in the past twenty-four hours, and what Breakdown had asked him about Caspian earlier. Was he in love with his favorite Vehicon? The question was so simple in itself, but when it came down to answering it his processor froze. Now that Soundwave was alone, however, the thought was now overwhelmingly hard to ignore. Love was a hard emotion for the telepath to really understand. Not that he was incapable of such feelings, it was just difficult for him to pin-point them. But it wasn't the question if Soundwave loved Cass that bothered him, it was the way Breakdown had phrased it. He asked if Soundwave was 'inlove' with Cass, not if he just 'felt' love for the drone.

Of course the third in command never really gave it another thought until now, and if he were to answer the question to himself at least, he would admit that yes, he did feel a respectable amount of love for Cass… But he couldn't really say that he was in love with the young model. Despite being the most unemotional mech on the ship Soundwave still understood the difference, but he just couldn't remember the last time he actually felt such a way towards any mech. Maybe it did have something to do with what Knockout had discovered about Cass, and because of his newly discovered central core. Because of this he was unknowingly allured to the smaller mech, but that would just be too easy of an answer. Logic told him it was probably the best answer, but he really didn't want to believe it. So, to make any real sense of all of this Soundwave had to ask himself a few new questions.

When did he start to feel love for Cass? Was this an instant attraction? Or did this emotion develop naturally over time? But what else was there to feel besides love? He did care deeply for the young model. Cass was smart, creative, kind, and strong in his own way, but Soundwave didn't know all of this right of the bat. This knowledge took time for him to discover, but even before he knew all of this about Cass, the telepath could feel that this drone was different. He was special, precious even and one thing was for sure. Soundwave knew with all his spark that he adored Cass, it was just hard to explain why… But perhaps that didn't really matter. What mattered was that he knew how he felt, and Cass was deserving of his affection, whether these feelings were returned or not. What really mattered most now was helping Cass recover, and make sure he kept the young model safe. Especially now from Megatron.

"Breakdown to Soundwave. Checking in." Soundwave checked his internal clock and found that it only been twenty minutes. Looks like Breakdown didn't really have any trouble reaching the town after all.

"Soundwave: Receiving Breakdown." He answered while he simultaneously checked all of the listening devices around the abandoned buildings. "Go ahead for intel."

"Looks like I was right." The giant mech huffed. "I'm practically in the middle of the town and I'm still receiving a signal, but it's coming up very weak. Which means if there is a deposit here it is either too small to bother with, or it is buried to far underground. So if we try to mine here even though the town is abandoned, we still wouldn't really go unnoticed. If we were to try, our best bet would be to drill at the mountains base like we had originally planned, but that's still very risky. I'm going to scout the landscape a little longer and make out as detailed a schematic as I can. It shouldn't take me too long too—."

"Breakdown: Stand by." The telepath interrupted him when one of the listening devices picked up an odd sound. "Currently detecting interference over audio surveillance: South side of abandoned town."

"Can you tell what it is?" Breakdown was obviously on the move. Judging by the way he asked the question so unevenly.

"Stand by." Soundwave adjusted both his own audios and the listening devices. The equipment he was hacking into was old, so he needed to be both aggressive and delicate with his tampering. The noise was basic to start with. Just some random rumbling and idling of a large all-terrain vehicle. Now all he had to do was determine whether the noise was Autobot or inhabitant.

"Hey Ratchet. I just arrived into the town and I'm still getting a small energon signal, but I'm also receiving a larger one leading towards the volcano. I'm going up there now to give it a look over."

Vocal confirmation told the communications officer that not only was the audio source from an Autobot, but previous filing also identified the voice.

"Vocal recognition: Autobot Bulkhead. Current route: Mountain base." Soundwave could hear Breakdown chuckling over there comm link, and the silent mech knew what the giant mech was thinking. "Tactical advice: Travel discreetly to the east end of the ghost town and hale a ground bridge to the Nemesis."

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." Breakdown said rather nonchalantly. "In about ten… Fifteen minutes give or take."

"In advisable at this time." The telepath was somewhat amazed by the stubbornness vibrating off the once level headed mech's vocals. After all of the generous things he had done for Cass, Soundwave had nearly forgotten how fool hearty the former wrecker could actually be. "Request: Return to Nemesis for early briefing."

"Oh come on," the now stubborn mech scoffed, "You know as well as I do that if there was an Autobot so nearby, and I just let him go Megatron would give us both a hard time over it."

"Contact has yet to be established." The third in command was growing impatient, and he really didn't want to put up with any more of the wrecker's shenanigans. "Return to Nemesis: Discretion is eminent."

"I appreciate that Soundwave, but there's one problem." Soundwave listened as Breakdown transformed back into bi-ped mode and waited for him to finish his statement. "I already have a visual on the Autobot… And I'm not passing up on the opportunity to knock his smug grill off."

Before Soundwave could further protest, he was cut off by the clambering sounds of metal and earth clashing together until Breakdown switched his comm links off. The communications officer shook his helm and casually searched through more of the towns listening devices, so he could follow the two fighting mechs movements. It didn't take him long to discover that the duo had stumbled into the center of the town, and one of the few active CCTV cameras were able to catch there fighting on a grainy visual feed. As the video constantly flickered on and off over Soundwave's visor he watched as their fighting escalated into a two-bot frenzy. They were throwing random debris at each other and swinging their weapons like they were toys. Breakdown was obviously getting worked up to the point of trash talking his opponent into an angry stupor. When he threatened to 'visit' with Bulkhead's human companion, Soundwave observed the blue mech gain the upper servo and nearly knocked the Autobot unconscious.

"As much as I'll miss our little reunions…" Breakdown tapped his hammer against Bulkhead's helm before he raised it above his shoulder. "Hammer-time…"

It wasn't long after the giant mech said that that the visual connection was abruptly disconnected, and Soundwave's link to the towns listening devices screeched violently before they fell completely silent. Considering how dated the equipment he hacked was, the third in command was not really all that surprised when they faded out. However it was strange how both formats just shut off all at once, but he wasn't ready to panic about it yet. Using his great powers of technological sleuthing, Soundwave hacked into Breakdown's own comm links and switched them on manually… And immediately knew something had gone terribly wrong.

He couldn't hear Breakdown at all, but he could definitely pick up the faint sounds of Apache helicopters hovering in the distance. They were quickly approaching the giant mech, whom Soundwave could only assume was downed at the moment. The communications officer made sure he documented everything that was happening over the link, and at the same time he ran a diagnostic over the old soviet technology to find out why it had failed so rapidly all at the same time. A moment later he was distracted when the helicopters touched down very close to Breakdown, and he could hear the rustled sound of collective footsteps encircle him. Followed by the whirling whine of energy powered weapons, but what came after was the clear sound of voices deliberating on what to do next.

"Sir? We only have the resources to transport one." No doubt the first voice was a standby combatant, perhaps a second in command. The voice that followed him was without question the leader, and Soundwave recognized him instantly.

"Take the victor." Ordered the unmistakable, smug voice of the MECH leader Silas. Soundwave recognized him right away after he had spent so many nights without recharge, researching anything he could find on the phantom human, but inevitably came up with nothing… And now he had Breakdown, and Primus only knew what MECH had planned for him.

"Officer Knockout!" Cass had sprinted out the door behind the medic, eager to catch up with him and find out what was wrong. "Please wait!"

The medic never turned around or even gave the Vehicon any indication he heard him at all. His focus was completely drawn to the communications bridge on the other side of the ship and he wasn't stopping for anyone. Knockout ran for at least two minutes before his anxiety filled mind told him he was going too slow, and he transformed into his alt-mode. He drove down the wide corridors like it was an empty freeway, and left Cass behind to follow a trail of smoldering skid marks.

"Out of my way!" He shouted at a couple of random Eradicons loitering around a corner, blaring his horn as if everyone around him was partially deaf. The two fliers just barely avoided the speeding grounder. One of them even screamed and leapt into his companions' arms. They both nearly toppled over if it wasn't for the wall behind them, but Knockout was so worried he couldn't care less if he ended up running their confused afts over.

He was nearly there. All he had to do was take the loft to the second level of the ship then run down one more hall. Even if he walked the rest of the way it would only take another two minutes, but for the distraught medic it was two minutes too long. As he transformed back into his bi-ped mode and stepped into the loft his processor erupted in thoughts of Breakdown. He tried everything to calm himself. He closed his burning red optics, took slow and deep intakes, and braced his servos over the elevators control panel. The more he tried to repress his apprehension the harder it was to keep himself from panicking.

"He's okay…" Knockout whispered, clenching his servos against the wall and feeling the speeding loft shake as it hurled towards the second level. "He's okay… He's okay… Breakdown would never… He would never leave me… Not like this…"

Soon the hyperventilating of his air vents slowed in time with the loft coming to a complete halt, but before he could step into the new corridor, he was stopped by a harsh clanging sound above his helm. Without much warning, a shaft covering fell from the ceiling flat in front of him. Not far behind it the small Vehicon fell through the new opening from above, and he quickly stood up on his pedes and faced Knockout with a dirt covered frame.

"Officer Knockout, please!" Cass coughed through a cloud of dust. "Slow down for one minute. The halls of the Nemesis maybe wide enough to drive through, but you can really hurt yourself if you speed down them blindly like that!"

He paused when he noticed how stunned Knockout was to see him, which reminded the young mech of his status. "Uh… Sorry. I didn't mean to raise my voice like that. I haven't had a full tank in a long time, so I have a lot of energy to burn."

"What? Oh! No. It's not that. It's… Um…" The medic's helm randomly glanced up and down to the ceiling then back to Cass. Up, down, up, down, up, down… "How did you get down here so quick?"

"I crawled through one of the maintenance chutes then slid down an air shaft running past the loft." The smaller mech announced without hesitation, as if this was somehow common knowledge.

"You could fit through all of that? Just how small are you?"

"Don't change the subject Officer Knockout." The drone said as he dusted off his frame, starting with his struts. "I'm very certain you're heading for the communications bridge, so I'm going to go off on a limb here and say something happened to Officer Breakdown during the reconnaissance mission… That, and you mentioned Commander Soundwave before you left the med-bay."

"Oh slag…" The red mech rested his fore-helm over an arm he still had resting in the loft's door jam. "I left the bay doors open… With drones still inside."

"Don't worry about that right now." Cass continued to swipe his servos over his chassis and arms. "I asked my friends if they would tidy up for you and lock the doors on their way out." He stopped brushing himself off and stood upright to face the taller mech. "You did say that you could trust me not to long ago, so I hope you can also trust my friends too—."

The young model fell silent when his helm glanced over to the medic. Knockout still had the top of his helm buried in his arm, covering his optics, but leaving the base of his faceplate exposed. His derma parted in a pained grimace and exposed tightly clenched dental plates. His red shoulders shivered uncontrollably while his servos balled into tight fists, and as his helm turned to face back into the loft, he tried his best to suppress a concerning whimper.

"Damn it…" He cried. "Damn it, damn it, damn it…"

Cass frowned sympathetically as he stared at the unnerved mech before him. It was astounding in a way to watch the once so confident and beautiful medic become so vulnerable, but it was also very spark breaking to witness. Slowly the young Vehicon reached out for Knockout's free servo, and he patted it in a soothing manner. The red mech nearly lurched back in surprise, but instead he froze and glanced back at the drone with wide, teary optics.

"But like I said let's not worry about that right now." Even if Knockout couldn't see it behind the drone's mask, Cass smiled anyway in the hope he could calm the once confident medic. "Walk with me Officer Knockout. I will be happy to escort you to the communications bridge, if you allow me."

"What are you?" Knockout whispered. "Brave or foolish?"

"I've been getting that a lot lately," Cass giggled, "and I honestly don't really know how to answer that."

"Doesn't really merit one, kid." The red mech also smiled as he began to feel a little more at ease. "And yes, I would actually appreciate it if you could take me to the communications bridge. I don't know what it is about you, but for some reason I feel rather relaxed now that you're here… If that makes any sense. I… I don't know why."

"It's alright." The drone locked his arm around Knockout's and started walking with him down the last corridor. "If I somehow provide you with comfort, then I will gladly stay by your side as long as you need me."

The two of them walked in silence for the last minute, but Knockout was still visibly shaken by whatever was happening. Cass still didn't know. He knew he probably shouldn't ask what was on his mind, but curiosity got the best of him and gently touched the top of the medic's arm.

"Forgive me if I'm being to forward, but I have made an observation." The young drone blushed under his mask at the thought of being so open with a higher officer. "I couldn't help but notice how close you and Officer Breakdown are. The way you two talk to each other is quite an intriguing thing to watch. Even though you came off angry with him, you never looked away from his optics… And he never lost optic contact with you either. You two must've known each other for a long time." Soon the two mechs reached the communications bridge bay doors. Cass momentarily left the still nervous medics' side, so he could open them. Before they flung open, he said one more statement that was almost meant to be question. "The two of you must really rely on each other."

Knockout was somewhat impressed with the way Cass was being so open with his thoughts. He could tell the drone was being very careful with the words he chose and the way he expressed them, and the red mech even appreciated how he wasn't just telling him everything he wanted to hear. It wasn't really distracting, but it was stimulating to say the least.

"Yes." Knockout sighed. "You're a lot smarter then you let on, and you are right. Breakdown and I have been together even before Cybertron went dark… We had lost so much before then… But we gained everything when we decided to stay together… We were… We are all we have left…"

The doors swung open with a loud hiss, and Cass took the red mech's servos softly in his own. "And you will still have each other. Commander Soundwave and I will make sure of that. I'm still not entirely sure what is happening, but I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure he comes back to you."

"You can't know that for sure." Knockout was amazed, but still skeptical. "You can't promise me that."

"Well, I just did Officer Knockout," Cass nodded generously and sympathetically squeezed the medic's servos, "and I have yet to break a promise."

-END-