Set early on. Soundwave has not yet met Megatronous, he's a newbie into the gladiator ranks, so she doesn't really acknowledge his existence unless it affects her. Soundwave predates him in this arena this AU.

Soundwave presently has a red visor and battle mask, more akin to classic Soundwave.

[Rewritten 8/NOV/2024]

It was a tedious anticipation—quite the conundrum Soundwave could admit—waiting for her name to be called for entry. Soundwave wished to get the fight over with already because she knew the match would hardly last long enough for her to find some sort of entertainment from it, despite it being the opposite for the masses watching.

Soundwave always made sure to check out her opponents beforehand. A slight of servo with her intelligence got her unbidden access to the Pit computer systems. Soundwave knew every piece of information he had supplied the administrators when signing up to become a Gladiator. She did not care enough to look beyond that. She wondered if he was doing this as an ego boost or attempting to impress someone.

Either way, Soundwave was unimpressed. He always gloated to the little posse had he gathered, she had overheard his overconfidence about taking Soundwave on without even working up his internal systems.

Ha, more like the other way around.

Still, it was dull. Soundwave could admit the buzz of the fights brought her some form of entertainment but she hated—despised—the Pit.

She wanted nothing more than to rip the Boss's spark from his chassis, but alas she was stuck here until she had 'paid off her debt'. Which at this rate was never going to happen, considering how good of a fighter she was. The Boss would never allow his best fighter to just leave. It meant he'd lose credits, that was a definite no-no for him.

The only reason she was in this Primus-forsaken place to begin with was some over-charged gladiators had tried to force themselves upon her and Soundwave had taken them down before they could possibly even comprehend fighting back.

They had apparently been some of the Boss' favourite fighters too.

Soundwave knew that if she actually tried to leave, she could. It wouldn't be difficult for her to make herself disappear, she kept her life and nightly activities completely separate. No one knew Soundwave outside the pit. Anyone that did had been dealt with, either offed or she'd delved into their processor to remove the information.

But what was the harm of some fun? Her life had been a bit dull. She knew her limits. She didn't let herself get an over-inflated ego.

Actually—now that she thought about it—scaring Harmonious with her lack of self-preservation was the harm. The poor mech worried non-stop about her after he'd found out what she'd gotten herself into. Bless his poor spark.

"Mechs and femmes, it's time to once again call out our dearly beloved Soundwave to the pit!" the familiar echoing voice of the Boss reached Soundwave's audio receptors.

Soundwave rolled her shoulder as her door lifted and the light of the arena crept towards her pedes more. She gave a pursed smile behind her face guard, taking her time to slowly enter the arena, being met with the loud, obnoxious cheers and screams of the watchers.

They grew louder as her form stepped into the light; her stone purple-blue armour shone in the artificial lights of the arena. Her optics behind the dark red visor locked onto the cocky-looking gladiator—he was relatively new to the pit.

Soundwave could acknowledge skill where she saw it—he had been raising through the ranks quickly, but he wasn't nearly skilled enough to take her on.

She smirked.

He had gotten cocky and confronted her, demanding a match between them. Of course, since it was a challenge, she had to accept it as part of the Pit's rules—a less used one as gladiators preferred to be surprised with whom they were fighting.

Still, just because he had easily beaten lower ranks, didn't mean he was strong enough to take her on. She wasn't being cocky herself, just stating facts. It was a fact that she was superior to many of the gladiators, even as a femme—but again, not that any of them were aware of the fact that she was a femme.

She was respected among the older and more experienced gladiators—they knew when they were beaten before the match had even started, so they made the fight fun for the audience and Soundwave complied, playing along with them. Those ones always ended with minimal energon shed, ended with a friendly handshake as the crowd cheered on.

Soundwave stopped with a good distance between them, not too close but not too far. Just enough that he would strike first and give her time to compute his fighting technique.

He did just as she had been expecting. He ran straight towards her as the crowd cheered wildly in excitement. Soundwave simply side-stepped his charge and turned, twisting her helm to watch as he stumbled, trying to gain his balance back.

He faced her again, a snarled on his faceplate and servos clenched.

Soundwave flawlessly blocked them with her slim arms, hardly putting in an effort—just enough that she wouldn't get overconfident that she would overlook something.

Her opponent was without a doubt angry at her lack of effort.

Soundwave continued to dance around his punches and kicks, throwing her own when he left openings for her to do so.

Rooky mistakes, she silently would be his downfall because Soundwave wasn't going to allow him to leave the arena alive. She would make it a statement to any others that dared try to challenge her.

The match was over in a breem. The mech groaning as he bled onto the dusty floor.

Soundwave smiled sadistically behind her face guard. Raising an arm as the crowd cheered for his death.

"Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!"

and

"Death to the weak! Death to the weak! Death to the weak!"

Not one to disappoint the crowd, she did as demanded.