Soundwave's Echo

Chapter 16

Soundwave made a smooth turn and fired at him. It was a single blast yet Starscream hadn't expected such a reaction and was thus unable to calculate an evasive maneuver fast enough. It slammed into his side straight through the already open wound left by MECH. A gargled scream sounded from his voice box and he was thrown back into the trees. His ventilation system forced several breaths of air through his vents in an attempt to cool the body down. Starscream placed a trembling servo over the targeted sight and felt energon trickling past his digits.
"Inferior." Soundwave muttered before transforming.

^^^

Miko sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest in order to rest her chin on them. "Why are we just watching it?" Miko asked looking over at Jack and Raf. "We'll we can't really do anything else while it's still unconscious." Jack said shrugging. The three sat beside the berh which held the thing Bumblebee brought back along with his T-Cog. "Do you know what it could be?" Raf asked looking up at Ratchet who was running scans. "At first glance I thought of a minicon, but after examining these results I can determine there is organic life within." Ratchet said. "Doesn't look like a human." Miko said tilting her head. "What you are looking at appears to be some kind of protective armor embedded with custom devices." Ratchet said. He hummed. "However even that conclusion is lacking. I cannot be 100% sure of anything without first removing the armor and I am unsure of how to do even that." Ratchet said. "Still. Why would anything organic be on the Decepticon side?" Jack asked looking at the insignia. "I am unsure of that as well." Ratchet said turning back to his scans. "Ugh I thought this would be interesting." Miko groaned. "It is. This is the first mystery we've had in a while." Jack said. "Yeah, but like you said we can't do much while it's unconscious." Raf said. "See! C'mon Raf, let's go do something else." Miko said getting up. Jack rolled his eyes as Raf followed her.

"So what are we going to do?" Raf asked as they walked down the hall. "I wanted to play some sweet tunes, but Ratchet hid my equipment." Miko said crossing her arms. "Well where did he put it?" Raf asked. Miko frowned. "Not sure...hey we could do that!" Miko exclaimed. Raf looked at her confused. "Do what?" he asked. "Look for my equipment. Ratchet will be busy with the thing till it wakes up." Miko said. "I dunno..." Raf mused. "It won't take long with the two of us both looking. You go down the relics hall and I'll go this way, okay?" Miko said.
"I guess-"
"Great! Call me if you find anything!" Miko said running off. Raf rubbed the back of his head.
"Guess I'm looking..." Raf said heading down the other hallway. It wasn't as long as one would think. This base did have it's limits and the Autobots didn't have vast amounts of relics. Most of which Raf recognized.
He passed by the windows and checked each one for speakers, microphones, or any musical instrument of that matter. To be honest he doubted any pieces of her set would be down this hall. This was for relics, important tomes of history, tools, or weapons. The most damage that could be done with her equipment was a bad headache with some punk-rock song stuck in your head. Raf paused. Those could actually be dangerous weapons, maybe they were down here.
He looked into the room he had stopped infront of to check as he had done with the others. Everything seemed normal or at least looked like it should be there. Well, almost everything. A few objects did stick out, three to be exact. They weren't weapons nor tools, the items looked like tapes. The kind you would but in a cassette player. He recognized the design since his father had one such player. Each tape had a different color: black, red, and blue. But why were they in there?
Raf entered the room filled with curiosity. Could they be forbidden music from Cybertron? The thought of that made him even more curious. Would the lyrics be in Cybertronian? He stopped infront of the case holding the tapes. He knew they had a written language, did they speak differently...maybe. Bumblebee spoke differently, but Raf could understand him so he could probably understand the music on the tapes. "Miko probably would be interested in these too." Raf said opening the case. A cold puff of air blew down on him making the boy shiver. Cassette tapes don't need to be kept cold. Raf reached up and pulled down the black one first. "Miko! I found something!" he called grabbing the red one next. Hopefully she could hear him from wherever she was. "Miko?" he called again grabbing the blue one after tucking the red one under his arm. Raf looked down at the tape searching for some kind of title. He turned it over and froze. An all too familiar purple symbol stared up at him.

Raf yelped and immediately dropped the other two. He watched them clatter to the floor and backed up. His heart was beating furiously. He knelt down and turned the other two over. The symbol was on both.
"Raf? What did you find? My guitar?" Miko's voice sounded behind him. He turned his head and saw her jog in the doorway. She noticed him on the ground and immediately rushed to his side. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Look!" Raf said pointing at the tapes. Miko looked in the direction he was pointing and sighed. "Geez Raf, don't scare me like that." Miko said relieved. Raf stared at her confused. "What do you mean? This is serious!" Raf said. Miko gave him a dumb look before picking up a tap. "They're just tapes. I'm surprised you got freaked out, don't you love old stuff like this?" Miko asked. Raf shook his head and stood up. "No that's not it! Don't you see the insignia?" Raf said pointing at it. Miko looked down at it and frowned. "Yeah, so?" she said raising an eyebrow. "So? These could be dangerous!" Raf said. Miko snorted, "c'mon Raf, these are too tiny to be Cons. Look they're not even vehicles." Miko said picking up the others. "I guess..." Raf said still unsure. "Look, I'll but them back if you're still scared." Miko said setting them back in the case. Once she placed the last one in she backed up and shut the door with her hip. "There. The spooky tapes are back in the case." Miko said. "I'm serious. Why would there be an insignia?" Raf said. "Maybe someone made it as a mockery card. Or maybe it's the elevator music the Cons play and someone took them as a prank!" Miko said jokingly. Raf frowned. "Oh come on, Raf. Let's keep looking for my equipment." Miko said placing a hand on his shoulder and guiding him out of the room. Raf glanced back at the tapes before willingly following her out.

^^^

It had been storming when he had summoned them. It seemed normal at first. He called each of their names and they shot out from the compartment in his chest. Ravage had transformed mid-air as usual followed by Frenzy and Rumble who landed in sync. All three noticed right away that Lazerbeak hadn't been called out. Soundwave knelt down to their level. His optics were filled with regret. "Tomorrow you three will be taken from me. It is beyond my ability to object now, so I want you to stay strong." Soundwave said. They blinked in shock. "What?!" Rumble cried. "Why can't we stay with you?" Frenzy added. Ravage whined in agreement. "Megatron has ordered I go through an update. This update will change my body completely. I will no longer be able to carry you in cassette form." Soundwave said trying to explain the situation to them. "No! We...we're a team!" Frenzy protested. "Yeah! We want to stay!" Rumble said clenching his servos. "I protested this as well, but Megatron's orders were absolute." Soundwave said lowering his helm. Ravage placed his pedes ontop of Soundwave's knees and pushed himself up to nudge his master's faceplate. Soundwave appreciated it at first before gently pushing him back. "I won't forget about you. Whatever division you are moved to I will come see you when I can." Soundwave said. Frenzy shook his helm stubbornly and felt tears trickling down. Rumble rushed forward and clung to Soundwave. Frenzy followed him and Ravage climbed up onto Soundwave's shoulder and cuddled up against his helm. Soundwave felt his spark trembling. "You'll be okay." Soundwave said touching each of them.
The next day came and the three were taken away by Megatron himself. They protested at first, however Megatron answered them with a menacing glare. He carried them in an uncomfortable silence. They missed their blue master. "Lord Megatron?" Frenzy asked. "What." Megatron grunted. "Where will we be relocated?" Frenzy said nervously. Megatron chuckled and grinned wickedly. "Your services are no longer needed." the warlord said. The three cassettes stiffened.
"What?" Frenzy cried.
"Why?" Rumble added.
Ravage growled unhappy.
"Soundwave will be able to function without the likes of you." Megatron said. "But Lazerbeak is staying!" Frenzy said. "To help him with aerial servalence. Last I checked none of you could fly." Megatron said. The three looked down dejected. Megatron's cruel laugh made them look up again. "Then again it has been a while," Megatron said stopping beside a window, "if you can come make it back to this ship, I'll find some use for you three. Good luck." Megatron sneered. The three were happy for a moment before they were hurled through the window and began to freefall. Rumble and Frenzy linked arms and quickly caught Ravage. The three clung to each other screaming for Soundwave and Lazerbeak.

Ravage snarled and tumbled down from where he had previously been. The black panther shook his helm and looked around. There was no rushing sky around him. No wind howling in his audio receptors. He looked around at his surroundings. There was some kind of storage container placed in some room that held other containers. Ravage shook his body and looked up inside the container he was in. He spotted the cassette forms of Rumble and Frenzy. He leaped upwards and knocked the down. The two mechs jolted out of their cassettes and looked around frantically. Similar to Ravage's reaction. "Where are we?" Frenzy asked rubbing his helm. "How should I know?" Rumble said. Ravage growled and sniffed the air. A familiar scent was lingering in the air. The two mini mechs noticed shortly after Ravage did. "Soundwave!" they cried. Ravage nodded and pushed at the door. It wasn't locked.