An escape through the ducts was the second deviation from Soundwave's expectations.
The first had been Springer and Arcee going after Devastator. He had assumed all the Autobots would hunt through the crypt for him so they could make radio contact with Iacon. He doubted it mattered. Devastator outnumbered two Autobots.
He was a little more irked with the remaining Autobots escaping his sensors: he should have predicted Wheelie's tactic after reviewing Ravage's memories. However, he had not shared those experiences with the Constructicons, nor had he concerned himself with the technical plans for the Crypt's systems. He checked them now, confirming that the Autobots could not access his sanctum that way and were unlikely to find a route out of the crypt.
While he waited to see if they would emerge, he checked the ongoing operations. Dirge, report.
It was Thrust who answered: Flying high, and no Autobot the wiser!
I am the leader of this mission, Dirge broke in belatedly. Until yesterday, you were sat on your afterburners staring at the stars!
Soundwave considered the hypocrisy of this statement, but he did not require self-awareness from Dirge or Thrust—just animation. Thrust was one of a handful of seekers who had sought refuge from Unicron in an asteroid field before running out of energon. They were lucky Soundwave had found their signal in a matter of days—they could as easily have spent millennia or eternity in stasis. The previous day, Dirge had brought them the energon found by Ratbat, and in reviving them, he'd found his own revival.
As much as the Decepticon jets grated on Soundwave, having a functional air force again was a boon.
Did Iacon fall for our decoy? Dirge asked. Scrapper had sent a hastily constructed drone ship out to the far edges of the galaxy last night with a timer set to trigger the Autobot distress beacon after twelve hours.
Affirmative. Aerialbots deployed with one shuttle.
That was better than he had dared hope. The Aerialbots were Cybertron's biggest threat to Devastator, especially when he was by necessity unarmed. Without Superion, only the Dinobots could stop him tearing through the city—and they had prepared for that.
Commence seeding clouds.
He had shared a careful selection of data from the tape he had found in Shockwave's tower. It had required a chemist, and so he had given Mixmaster the formulae to create acid rain as well as a resistance alloy in which the Constructicons were now coated. He doubted the Autobots or Iacon were similarly armoured.
Seeding clouds with hydrons would take some time, so he left Dirge to it and returned his focus to the crypt. There was still no sign of the Autobot fugitives.
Soundwave tapped his fingers on the control panel in front of him. Plan amended, he decided. Rumble, eject. Frenzy, eject.