Skyfire popped the sparkling into his cockpit and played a soothing blend of ambient noise and spark rhythm to calm the little one. Soundwave had seemed startled not frightened but the IFF flare suddenly in range was Foe not Friend. Hound immediately commed the Ark in a fast 'contact' alert. He didn't want to chatter given Ratchet's warning about the bitlet's sensitivity but if something disastrous happened, Command needed to know.
"Who is it?" Skyfire was not currently connected to the Autobot battle network. The shuttle preferred not to have the strengths and weaknesses and combat stats of every Decepticon on Earth cluttering up his helm. On an emotional level, he did not want to know that if you shot Thrust in the port turbine a fault in the shut-off valve meant his fuel lines on that wing would ignite. Prowl had helpfully included percentages on likely grounding the Seeker with that method. Skyfire had scrolled briefly through the addenda containing comments and relevant after-action reports foolishly thinking there would be objections to setting a sentient being on fire in midair. There were not.
"Reflector." Hound connected to the ABN, auto-loading recognition of the IFF and testing it for cloaking. Masking an ID ping was difficult in real-time though Spec Ops mods could do it. The mech most likely to notice a spoof was currently inside Skyfire so the scout was cautious. If Devastator suddenly came charging over the horizon, he was running for it. "I'll close to verify. You stay here ready to launch."
"Be careful." Skyfire began his preflight checks. He had a weapon on him. Ironhide had harangued him to always have a blaster in his subspace even if he was 'too slagging principled to use it'. Shooting in the direction of rather than at a Decepticon often discouraged them just as well. There was his size too. But the scientist was thinking of his passenger. He would leave if Hound said to do so.
The jeep transformed, brazenly rolled down the steep incline, and drove into the woods on a direct vector to the IFF. He wanted to flush out anyone skulking in ambush. Hound was confident he had better manoeuvrability over this terrain than any grounder 'Con. They wouldn't care about the damage they did to the Park but smashing through the trees would slow them down.
There was no 'them'. Well, debatably as a unitary, Reflector was a them according to the Functionists. However, as he used the singular pronoun to refer to himself when combined and the Functionists were sacks of slag, Hound was happy to amend the alert to 'lone Decepticon confirmed'.
"Out here sight-seeing?" The scout asked the surveillance mech, who was leaning against a fir being ostentatiously non-threatening.
"I surrender." Reflector said quickly. "I have intel."
That rather put an end to a nice outing. Hound did the prisoner intake stuff, pinged Skyfire the all-clear, commed Command, and was not surprised when Prowl ordered them all back to base. Without complaint, the shuttle flew them to the Ark, keeping Soundwave in his cockpit away from Reflector sitting cuffed in his hold.
They were met by the twins and Ironhide, who marched the Decepticon away for questioning. Hound reluctantly excused himself to write his report. It wouldn't take long but Prowl would want it immediately. Skyfire sat in the hangar.
The scientist transformed slowly, opening his cockpit so he could extract Soundwave then stood in the hangar. He was somewhat at a loss as to what to do. There was always the laboratory of course though bringing a sparkling would be a violation of safety regulations. Soundwave wasn't particularly grabby but accidents happened. Especially around Wheeljack.
"Would you like to see your deployers?" Skyfire asked the immature Host, who patted his hand. "Good enough, bitlet. Let us amble forth."
There was more to seeing Ravage et al than simply ambling. Red Alert had been reluctantly persuaded (and ordered) to accept the infantilisation of the Decepticon Communications Specialist. However, the Security Director would not bend on the cassettes. They were in the brig; all together in the large cell to allow for socialisation and comfort. Ratchet had insisted. But Red had won on access restrictions.
Skyfire requested permission, signed himself and Soundwave in, weathered a search of his person and an inspection of the bitlet, then waited for confirmation from Red Alert and Prowl that the visit had been given clearance. There would also be a guard at all times, though the effectiveness of the current roster might be marginal.
"Oooh, who's cute? Who's the cutest tiny bit?" Hoist cooed, gently offering his hand to Soundwave so he didn't alarm the sparkling by patting him. He eased back when the little one shied away from him. "It's okay. I won't hurt you. I just want to say hello."
"He's shy." Skyfire held Soundwave cupped in his hands so the security cameras could track the technically-still-a-Decepticon. Red Alert had insisted as the Host had not formally defected, and the mecha to whom he was bonded had certainly not shed their purple. Although he didn't make optic contact with the pickup, the sparkling didn't try to hide behind the shuttle's fingers.
"I don't blame him. It's quite a change, isn't it? All these big mecha stomping about thinking so loudly." Hoist's tone was soft. He had put his designation down for caretaking but would have to wait as he'd used most of his free shifts helping Grapple with a tricky development stage for the Ark's new refinery. The work was independent of their rostered duties, as yet unapproved, so they couldn't reallocate shifts. "There are a few things we could do to make a quieter recharge area. If Ratchet lets us tweak the medbay."
::[designation:hoist]you are on guard duty:: Red Alert's acerbic comm interrupted Hoist's musings on how to make the sparkling more comfortable. ::brig door opening::
"I have to lock you in." The mechanic apologised to the scientist. "Protocol with so many deployers. They're tricky little guys." He waved to Soundwave then chuckled when the sparkling tentatively waved back. "Comm Red when you want to leave."
The instruction was nearly drowned out by the cacophony of greetings when the cassettes saw their Host. Screeches, hisses, some profanity interspersed with glyphs in the Kaonite patois. Skyfire could order energon in all the major dialects of Cybertron and was conversant in several. Not unfortunately the variant used in the industrial city-state. It hadn't, before the war, published much in the sciences.
"Boss! Hey boss!" Rumble jumped up and down to get Soundwave's attention. The shuttle obligingly pivoted so the sparkling could see the small mech. "The bond's still good. We're okay." He switched to Urayan, which Skyfire could follow. "Hey, maybe's he's forgotten Kaon. No loss, no worries. The Pits'd probably give him nightmares."
"Rmmm." Said Soundwave, waving a hand at his cassette.
"Yeah, that's me." The blue mech slid an arm through the energy bars to wave enthusiastically back. In Skyfire's helm, Red Alert sternly cautioned him against approaching lest the deployer attempt to snatch the sparkling away. The shuttle reluctantly heeded the warning.
"We are looking after him carefully." He reassured, noting the attention on him from all of Soundwave's team. Skyfire sat down on the floor so he did not accidentally loom and settled the sparkling on his crossed ankle servos. The bitlet had a good view from there, waving and chirruping at everyone.
"Megs call to bargain yet?" Frenzy asked, surly glyphs not quite hiding the worried undertone. Megatron might let Starscream stew 'til the 'Bots wanted rid of him cheap but Soundwave always got rescued or ransomed quick. That was only if he couldn't escape himself, and there was no rust on the Boss about that.
"Not that I know of, no." Skyfire didn't have the security clearance to negotiate prisoner exchanges but news like that spread quickly. "I do not believe we have had any direct communications with your faction recently. Who would handle that protocol with your Host, ah, away from his post?"
"'Flector, probably." Rumble shrugged, accidentally knocking against the cell bars then swearing.
"Fug." Soundwave mimicked.
"Oh, no." The cassette's outburst was definitely not any glyph Skyfire wished the sparkling to add to his lexicon. "Could you please mind your language? Ratchet isn't sure how much conscious recollection Soundwave has, if any, and such mature expressions are inappropriate."
There was a round of silence, certainly also a flurry of chatter across the cassettes' network-bond. The shuttle politely allowed them their time, his optics on Soundwave rather than rudely staring to prompt a faster conclusion to their deliberations. He'd noticed how quickly the Autobots vocalised their thoughts. Perhaps it was a habit they'd picked up from the humans or perhaps the war had ground in a sense of urgency.
"So, you 'Bots don't got a way to un-baby the Boss?" Rumble asked after a shove from his frame-twin.
"Not yet." Skyfire admitted. "Wheeljack is researching. All the science team are involved." Himself included. "Unfortunately not all of what happened is precisely understood nor do we have Starscream's notes. Wheeljack is confident, somewhat, that he will be able to verify the process or it might wear off. There was some discussion of unstable molecules interacting with phased space-time. Temporal rift physics is not my speciality, regrettably."
"Frag...gle rock." Frenzy groaned.