What Have I Done?

Chapter 12: Objective: Emancipation

He was dead.

Kaon sat near the Sea of Rust, an area that swarmed with dangerous swarms of all kinds. Nobody dared enter it, and those who did usually didn't live to see their way out. Tales went through Cybertron about all kinds of monsters and beasts that lurked in there.

Soundwave never really thought much of it until now. Until he'd sat behind his ransacked house for hours and hours, simply staring into the dangerous land.

He could see a storm on the horizon. It wouldn't bother Kaon, they'd set up magnetic shields to repel any of the dangers in the sea. It stopped the storms from getting in, but wouldn't stop bots from getting out. Of course, nobody would ever be crazy enough to go into the Sea of Rust.

Soundwave didn't consider himself crazy.

But he did consider going in.

He flinched as someone started pounding on his front door. Standing slowly, he made his way back inside, his optics drooping with grief. On his way to the front entrance, Soundwave stopped by a shelf of Crashdrive's belongings.

One of the objects was a prototype that the other mech had been working on. It was a visor meant to connect with it's host's processor and then work with it like a computer and a datapad all at once.

Crashdrive never had the chance to finish it.

Picking up the visor gently, Soundwave looked at it for a long moment before setting it back down. He turned away and opened the front door.

"Orion," Soundwave stated dully. "What are you doing here?"

"They got Megatronus," Orion breathed. "We have to save him."

Soundwave laughed bitterly. "You expect the two of us to be able to break into a prison? We couldn't even save you from a rooftop without..."

Crashdrive.

Orion looked down, "Soundwave... I'm so sorry."

Soundwave turned away, "We were bound to get caught eventually. We were in over our heads, thinking that we could change Cybertron."

"Maybe it is hopeless," Orion frowned. "But Crashdrive died for our cause. Shouldn't we try and finish it?"

Soundwave stared at the small archivist for a moment before shaking his head, "We can't do it without Megatronus and there's no way you and I can break him out alone."

"Who said we would be alone?"

The mech looked up at Orion sharply, "What do you mean?"

"You wanted Cybertron to change," Orion glowered. "So let's start with the people."

"Charismatics are Megatronus's thing," Soundwave frowned. "We have no chance of convincing anyone."

Oriom furrowed his brows and looked down, thinking hard for a moment, "Have you ever heard of a symbiote?"

Soundwave nodded.

"Why don't we go buy one and then we can send it to Megatronus to record a speech? Then we'll use that speech to convince everyone," Orion suggested.

Soundwave huffed, "Then let's get moving."

The black bot shut his door and followed Orion out into the streets.

"By the way, how did you find me?" Soundwave asked.

Orion winced, "Long story short, I can't go back to Medicre."

Soundwave tilted his head in interest before shrugging, "Okay, so where is the symbiote store?"

Orion grinned, "There's one in Iacon, near the sparkling hatchery."