Silenced

1 | Flashbacks

Laserbeak looked to their master with a tilted head, folding its wings in to land in between Soundwave's shoulder and arm - a long painted metal plate that reached slightly above their helm, the darkened silver Decepticon insignia branded upon it with dignified humility. Soundwave shifted their helm slightly and stroked the bird-like familiar, the miniature Decepticon melting underneath their touch with a soft whir. Then, Soundwave's faceplate moved to the light of the screen. It had changed. Soundwave quickly tapped their digits across the board of cybertronian symbols to reassure their assumption.

Finally, after hours of searching, they had gotten a reading. Tuning their communications frequency, Soundwave had contacted Megatron directly to inform him of the new reading. There was a short-term bit of static before Megatron's deep voice crackled in response to the comms.

~Good work, Soundwave. We shall send out a recon force--immediately.~

Soundwave could practically visualize Megatron's shark like teeth as he grinned with menacing delight. Moments after Megatron's order, Soundwave effortlessly replicated what the Lord had spoken and notified an on standby reconassiance team of Vehicons. Soundwave could hear Megatron lightly chuckle in his audio receptor, and he diverted his attention to him once more.

~I can always count on you, Soundwave. It is the primary reason why I $@%#* ¥•π, afterall...~

Lord Megatron trailed off, the comm links glitching momentarily before they were eventually cut off. And yet, Soundwave could still clearly interpret the meaning behind Megatron's words.

Another wave of memory of the dreaded day had come and stricken Soundwave because of the reminder of their intermingled past, his stabilizing servos buckling from underneath him, leading the Third in Command to collapse gracelessly to the floor. He clawed at his throat with a sharpened servo, coughing violently. Soundwave scrambled in debilitated haste to pick himself back up with his remaining strength, stumbling back into a more remote section of the main bridge, for there any chance of a wandering Decepticon would happen to spot this unsightly spectacle.

. . .

I cried out for help, yet I was alone. Bodies were strewn dead; energon splattered a disgustingly bright blue over the terrible, rugged wasteland of what used to be considered a city. I tried to escape through a known dangerous trail, but my weight had failed me, and the ground shook before caving in beneath my struts. I had saved myself somehow, yet I only hung on by a single servo, and the walls were crumbling, rocks rolling down the rim of the newly formed pit that seemingly had no bottom. An endless abyss that would certainly lead to nothing but a lonesome death. What awful luck...

Then, the voice of a mech sounded within a reasonably close vicinity.

"Hey, look- It's a bot. A neutral one by the looks of it."

The cybertronian behind the voice cracked a smile, electric blue eyes glistening from above. My own optics widened. Have they come to save me? Did they see my fall? Then, a different one spoke up, perhaps a comrade of theirs. They kneeled down, worry resting on their face plate.

"Shouldn't we help them?"

They looked uncertain, but their optics were still a clear blue, like the other. Autobots. That is what they were. The first voice narrowed their gaze, their tone suddenly menacing and dripping with pure, unveiled disgust as they swatted the bot's servo away from me.

"We don't help neutrals, they could be our enemies one day - it's better off killing 'em."

"But, we are supposed to alway-!"