Of Drones and Logic

New Beginnings Part 2: Calm Before the Storm

Upon reaching the arch that either leads in or out of the spire, he looks back at the pod, the image of Doll and Lazerbeak still on his processor.

He still remembers when he first held the bird-like Minicon like that before the war. The way she slept like that when she was but a hatchling. She was the youngest one when he introduced her to her siblings.

The way that Ravage, the panther Minicon who was oldest of them, be ever most gentle with her, trying his best to preventing any harm to her.

The way she played with the twins, Rumble and his sister, Frenzy. They were all different, all unique, yet the one thing in common was how they were to their master. He was almost like a father to them.

But when the war broke out, things took a tragic turn. He began to lose them, one by one.

Ravage was the first to go, during the Battle of Technar, where he accompanied Skyquake for the Seeker's mission, given to him by Megatron himself, to annihilate Optimus Prime. He let Ravage loose on a mission of his own, to infiltrate an Autobot outpost to acquire the coordinates to their weapons cache.

When the battle was over, while Skyquake failed in his mission, Ravage accomplished his. But he didn't do so without a cost when Soundwave found him.

Or at least... his upper half

The next was Frenzy. She perished the Autobot, Ironhide, blasted her helm clean off her shoulders with his one of his cannons during the End Run on Pollyhex. He had never seen Rumble in such a way when he saw what had become of his twin sister.

Speaking of Rumble, he lost his life in the raid on the Ark during the Exodus in the final days of the Fall of Cybertron. After the death of his sister, Rumble grew not only more aggressive but more reckless as well. He tried to call him back but he refused to listen, and it was that reckless disobedience that led to his undoing. He can still feel Rumble's sparkless husk in his arms after he was gunned down by Autobot soldiers.

All that was remained of his Minicons was Lazerbeak. And after that, he had been protecting her ever since. Out of fear that he would lose her like he lost the others.

That was the reason he rushed to her aid almost immediately when she sent him that distress signal. He had the opportunity to end Wheeljack with the Resonance Blaster he recovered with the help of the decoded coordinates of the Iacon Database, but instead of claiming victory, he chose to go and rescue Lazerbeak.

Other than his first encounter with Cyn on Earth, it was the only other time he truly felt fear in his spark. The fear of loosing the only Minicon he had left.

And even now, despite the war has ended, Soundwave still wonders what might become of him if something were to happen to Lazerbeak or worse, what might become of Lazerbeak if something were to happen to HIM instead.

He held onto this question for eons, not knowing how to respond to it. But maybe, with how close the Minicon had become to Doll over the course of time after Cyn's defeat, he may have finally found his answer.

But he will not worry about the future for the moment, not while everything is calm at the moment, where he still has the opportunity to prepare for the inevitable storm over on the horizon.

And with that, Soundwave spreads his wings and takes off into the cold night to scavenge more more parts.

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"Haha, and that is why Golden Retrievers are so great with kids!" N giggled as Buddy kept his gaze on the disassembler.

"Not to mention that they are very social, absolutely love being the centre of attention, unlike a certain robot T-rex I know, haha."

Buddy lets out an annoyed snort, narrowing his six red eyes at him before turning away. N only laugh even more at the Sentinel's behaviour.

Despite this, N's expression fell to worry, something that Buddy noticed instantly. He lets out a worried growl as he rests his head on the drone's lap. N gently patted him on his head with a reassuring smile.

"I'm ok, Buddy. It's just that..." he trailed off, taking in a deep breath through his artificial lungs.

"Uzi knows about you. Not that I didn't expect her to find out but... I just don't think you're ready to see her and the other yet. I know you don't have a problem with being social with me."

Buddy lets out a soft whine as he nudged his head into N's coat.

"It's just that I don't want to put so much pressure on you like that. I just wanted you to be comfortable first and..."

N looks towards his friend worriedly.

"Buddy, do you think you can handle with meeting multiple people at once? You know I won't force you, it's your call to make, not mine."

Buddy gave a look of uncertainty before he slowly raises he head from N's lap and gives him a nod.

"Are you sure? You realise you're going to meet five people at once, right?" N asks again, making sure if this was what his friend really wanted.

Buddy lets out a low rumble from his throat, confirming on his decision. This leaves N with a smile on his face.

"Alright then." He replied, raising to his feet and holding the book to his side.

"I'll bring them to our usual spot as soon as you're ready, ok?"

The T-rex Sentinel growls in a way that akins to that of a bark. This brings N back to his usual, happy attitude.

"Okie dokie. Sun's coming up soon so I think I'll be back tomorrow night with my friends, plenty of time for you to be ready both physically and mentally."

N takes a few steps away and spreads his wings before looking towards his friend.

"Later, Buddy!" He said before taking to the air and makes his way back to the bunker.

Buddy watches N slowly leaves his line of sight. Once he was truly gone from his vision, the T-rex Sentinel slowly rises back to his clawed feet and shakes the snow off himself.

He then uses his tiny arms to scrape the remaining snow off of his chest, revealing the Autobot insignia underneath.

To be continued.

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AN: I know it's early, but merry Christmas, everyone. That's the end of the first two part chapter of season 2 of ODAL. On the next chapter, it will be revealed that there is more to Buddy than meets the eye. Until then, merry Christmas.