3. Decepticons are only allowed within the designated location for the Crypt.
"According to Scavenger and Bonecrusher's findings, this is the ideal location for the new crypt," Scrapper explained, highlighting the area on the map he was projecting.
Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus and Perceptor all leaned forward to look, but it was Rewind whose face lit up. "Oh, the historic Decepticon military fortress of Darkmount!"
With satisfaction, Soundwave captured the image of shock on the Constructicon leader's face. Scrapper had been so sure the Autobots wouldn't realise the significance of the site.
It mattered little to Soundwave who was listening into the cassettes he had deployed on a covert mission. Everybody else was left with Rewind's ongoing broadcast of his thoughts: "I'm not the experts you are of course, but I know Darkmount's been standing since the second Cybertronian war…" He cut himself off, glancing over at the levelled ground where Darkmount had stood. "Well… Not standing as such, but considering its age, I presume quite half the structure was underground anyway."
More than half, Soundwave thought. Only a few levels had been above the surface, including the ceremonial Hall of Heroes. That had supposedly been a testament to Decepticon glory, but after it had been sullied by first Starscream and then the Unicronian mockery that was Galvatron, Soundwave found it hard to regret its destruction.
"Uh, yeah… the levels close to the surface are pretty much rubble, but according to my readings, the lowest levels seem to be intact," Scavenger said, looking nervously to a still dumbstruck Scrapper for permission to continue. "We'll need to sink an access shaft to confirm, but we should be able to use the pre-existing structure for the crypt."
Scrapper managed to snap out of his stupor to discuss the security for the site and access route with Rodimus. As he was warmly reassuring the Autobots that they absolutely understood their wish for precautions, Soundwave received an alert from Ravage: his team had been discovered. Soundwave switched to listen in on the Autobot com-link.
The cat's gone astray! A heist's at play! That was the shrill-voiced new Autobot, who preferred to speak in some sort of simplistic code.
Coming to you, Wheelie, Springer responded immediately, and the sound of his alt-mode rotors came a moment later, heading away from them.
Frenzy broke in on a private band. We got the goods, but bot-cat and the weirdo found us. Should we hit and run?
Negative, Soundwave sent back. Hold position.
Without explanation, he took off for the former location of Shockwave's tower, reaching it shortly after Springer who turned to face him, prickling with wariness. Physically, the triple-changer was the stronger of the two and a dangerous fighter, but Soundwave was picking up a steady stream of electrical pulses from his processor. If Springer were going to resort to physical combat, he wouldn't be thinking that hard. Coolly, Soundwave moved past him, leading the Autobot into the former Decepticon Headquarters.
This had been the epicentre of Unicron's attack, and the Autobots had already cleared most of the debris at this site while extracting bodies. This tower ran almost as deep as Darkmount, and Springer and Soundwave were able to take stairs to the basement where Shockwave had kept his backups. Millions of years of data surrounded them, the hard drives stacked to the ceiling—except for the one Frenzy was holding, as he and Ravage stood off against Wheelie and Steeljaw.
Soundwave didn't read much coming off Steeljaw—the Autobot cat always had a good lock on his emotions and thoughts while on the job. Wheelie's face was a mirror of Frenzy's petulance; Soundwave gave him a cursory scan—and nearly winced at the unexpected bursts he found. Wheelie was thinking as hard as Springer was, but in a much more chaotic pattern.
Refusing to stare at the new Autobot, Soundwave checked for his final cassette. Following his other senses, his optics lifted up and to the right: atop a stack of drives, Ratbat was perched and watching in the shadows.
"Not happening." Springer plucked the drive from Frenzy's hands. "I don't know what's on these, but they're not part of the deal, and I don't do negotiations. You've got a safe-zone. Get back to it."
"Ravage, Frenzy, Ratbat, return," Soundwave ordered. He didn't look directly at Ratbat, but he still caught the non-sentient data-tape that the bat dropped into his chest right before he transformed to his own cassette mode.
He was reading the information on the tape as he followed the Autobots back to the surface, but he stayed aware enough of his surroundings to note that Springer carried out the drive Frenzy had been holding. When the triple-changer handed it over to Rodimus Prime, Soundwave intercepted the Autobot leader's words over the com-link: Might well be nothing, but we'll take it back to Iacon and see if there's a reason they were after it.
Soundwave hid his reactions with the ease of long practice. He did not like losing that drive after Ravage had gone to such trouble to find it, but Ratbat's opportunistic thieving had paid off. The data-tape contained several of Shockwave's carefully guarded formulae—many of them scientific breakthroughs that might otherwise have been lost when the reclusive Decepticon had died. Now the knowledge was Soundwave's to use.