The yellow optics uttered another growl, but this time it was followed by a tilt of their helm into the light. They jumped out of the shadows, and slowly crept closer as if they were openly stalking their prey.
Eventually, they started trotting over until they reached Soundwave with a warm, robotic purr.
"Ravage--you have returned."
Soundwave greeted, gently stroking the top of their head. Another soft growl rose up from their throat as they closed their optics and leaned into him. Soundwave's expression settled into a small smile behind his visor. The two have finally been reunited after all this time that has passed between them - it must have been eons. Megatron will be pleased with the new addition to their cause on Earth.
Cr-rack!
Ravage's head shot up in alarm at the sound of one of the Vehicon's stepping out from their cover and cracking a large branch. Soundwave gave them a brief side glance, watching the Decepticon flinch and then fall still.
"Not--foe."
Soundwave explained bluntly to their mini-con as he returned his gaze to them. Ravage flicked his tail, the wary Decepticon piquing his interest. The other Vehicons soon emerged, and stepped carefully towards the Third in Command.
"Sir Soundwave, what...is that, exactly?" A Vehicon asked, representing the voice of the others who all had a similar inquiry. Soundwave waited a moment before picking himself up from his position on the ground with a lengthened vent, Ravage's golden optics following him up as he went. Soundwave made sure all optics were on him before he stuck a clawed digit at the being - more specifically its Decepticon symbol on its upper front leg - before turning his servo over into a gesture that inferred them to be a welcome visitor.
"Designation: Ravage."
----
There was a loud whirl of the groundbridge spurring to life, and a group of four walked out of it, the single two-wheeler possessing a scanner in hand.
"Arcee." The voice of the Autobot leader prompted in his deep baratone.
Arcee nodded, and moved in front of the group, momentarily pausing to read the gauge before lifting her optics in the direction it provided.
"Its just up ahead." Arcee stated, moving forward. The other Autobots followed, preparing their cannons in case they meet the Decepticons in battle. Once the escape pod was in their sights, they saw something else that caught them off guard.
"Look, the Decepticons!" Bulkhead pointed a ways into the opposide side of the forest. A few seconds later however, and they were gone through the open ground bridge in a swirl of light. Bumblebee whirred in confusion when it closed, looking to Optimus. Prime slowly diverted his optics back to the pod, and walked over to it, transforming his blasters back into servos. He placed one lightly onto the outer wall of the pod. A soiled Decepticon insignia was engraved on its side.
"It is of Decepticon Origin." Optimus said dimly. Arcee clenched her servos into fists. "Guess that's how they got here first." She said, glaring down at the ground.
"And the pod's empty. The Decepticons probably got what they were after." Bulkhead sighed. The escape pod was, miraculously, undamaged for the most part, so any chance that whatever was inside was destroyed or mortally wounded was next to none. Optimus raised his helm and looked out into the thick forest, the sound of a small stream running closeby echoing softly in the silence.
"I have a feeling that we will soon be made aware of the identity of whom was within this escape pod, when we must face them in the heat of battle..."
----
Soundwave and the Vehicons arrived back, Ravage keeping close to their master as they entered the Nemesis, Megatron awaiting for their return.
Soundwave walked up to Lord Megatron, then stepping aside to show the spoils of their excursion. Megatron displayed surprise, before a conniving smirk made its way onto his face plate. Ravage sat beside Soundwave, an obedient stare directed at Megatron.
"Isn't this a welcome surprise, Ravage. One of the Decepticon's greatest spies." Megatron looked with pleased amusement towards Soundwave, stood silently with his helm pointed forward, secretly deep within his thoughts. Despite this, he still had the luxury of looking cold and intimidating instead from the security and asylum of his visor.
"I would like you to welcome Ravage aboard the Nemesis, and show him around the premises." Megatron advised, before turning his back on the two.
"Once you have completed that task, I would like you to dispatch him as you do Laserbeak, for added surveillance on the Nemesis. For now, that is." Megatron eyed Ravage briefly with his scarlet optics without shifting his helm, then glancing up to Soundwave for his answer. Soundwave was still lost in thought despite his alert-appearing stance, but was paying enough attention to give a curt nod.
"The rest of you are dismissed." Lord Megatron added brusquely before exiting the bridge.
The Vehicons dispersed themselves in all directions, heading back to their regular posts and guarding stations. Soundwave motioned for Ravage to walk with him, and the two headed down the walkway with Ravage's claws clicking against the metal floor. Yet, before they could even make it out of the main bridge, Laserbeak ejected themselves off of Soundwave's chassis, and made a high-pitched chirp as it flew small circles around Ravage. His yellow optics widened before his tail swished side to side in greeting. Ravage sat down and swatted a playful paw in the air, Laserbeak then landing on Ravage's back in order to narrowly avoid his 'attack'. Soundwave shook his head with a vent at his mini-cons' antics, but let them have their way and continued through the Nemesis as they were, Ravage happy to oblige Laserbeak as a temporary source of transportation.
Soundwave absentmindedly traveled through the Nemesis halls, no real destination in mind. He showed Ravage various parts of the warship as they went, including bits of information to keep special notice of using his snippets of voice recordings.
Eventually, they had made it back around to the medical and science sector of the ship, where Knockout was busy inside the repair-bay trying to reach a spot around his backside with his rotary buffer. He froze, however, when he was spotted in his awkward position, along with the added cause of a large predator staring him down with sharp denta - perfectly equipped to gnaw off his precious finish.
"I, uh, a-ahem." Knockout quickly straightened himself and hid the buffer behind him with his servo, giving Ravage a wary glance. Hiding the buffer was fruitless at this point but Soundwave decided to keep quiet about it, as he usually does.
"So, that...thing, that's with you."
"Ravage." Soundwave corrected.
"Yes, yes, the ravenous beast." Knockout repeated obscenely wrong in his dismissive trepidation as he started making his way around the back of the disection berth to gain both distance and cover, never once losing eye-contact with the mini-con. Ravage turned their muzzle to the side and huffed at the mispronounciation, but returned their gaze soon after.
"Is it...trained?" Knockout asked hesitantly. Soundwave responded with a blank stare, unnerving the red mech somewhat.
"..Well, is it?" He asked again, more distress in his voice this time. Soundwave shook his head slowly at the thought of Knockout even bothering to ask such a question, which only looked like Soundwave agreeing to Knockout's previous statement. His breath hitched when Soundwave started to leave; and the ravage beast not doing the same.
Laserbeak hopped off Ravage's back and transformed back onto Soundwave's torso before he walked out, leaving Ravage behind with Knockout. Soundwave noticed his mini-con was interested in the mech, and Soundwave still needed time to fix Ravage's frequency and several other things before he would be fit for proper surveillance and gathering intelligience, Ravage's specialty. So, he could make himself at home at Knockout's workplace for now.
Knockout however, was not as keen on the idea.
Once Soundwave's strut-steps faded away, Ravage swung his tail to one side and started slowly approaching the scarlet finish mech, much to their disapproval.
"W-wait, hold on. S-stay back..!" Knockout scrambled around to grab some sort of gadget to keep back the being, somehow managing to settle on the least threatening device as his only source of protection, temporarily forgetting the fact he has his own surgical weapons that he can transform his servos into at any time. Knockout was eventually forced to the back wall as Ravage steadily made his way over, silently enjoying the fear he created within the physician. Ravage's snout twitched a feline smirk as he neared but a few feet from the mech, before plopping down on his bottom and thumping his tail lightly against the floor.
Knockout had a delayed reaction of relief when he finally came to the realization the predator wasn't actually going to chew out his optics. He heaved a vent, almost tripping over himself in the process as he walked himself over to a table to regain the air he lost, though he didn't need air to breathe.
Knockout eventually craned his neck around and looked behind him again, albeit somewhat disheveled, at Soundwave's new pet. They were in the same place, but without their tail lightly beating the floor like it was before. Slowly, Knockout slid his arms and his helm off the work table, and faced the beast.
"Alright..." He began, somewhat shakily. "As long as you refrain from scratching my paint...we can co-exist here. Capiche?" Knockout gave him a side-glance, carefully setting down the useless gadget he picked up from before.
Thump thump.
"...is that supposed to be a yes?"
Thump thump.
Knockout takes this as a yes.
After this short yet telling exchange, Knockout and Ravage make a non-formal agreement for the mini-con's extended stay in the physicians med-bay, as well as a simplified form of communication for the two to converse with; one tail thump meaning no, and two tail thumps meaning yes.
For the remaining time before Soundwave's would be return, Ravage had been spending the majority of his time lying around wherever he found best to observe Knockout, which he had come to find to be a specific corner in the med-bay that was also fortuitiously on the outermost part of Knockout's path, preventing any potential mishaps of being stepped on. It was also a good area close to the singular exit and entrance way that connected to the corridor of the Nemesis, allowing a quick and sly escape route if need be.
Speaking of said door, the sound of it whishing open alerted Knockout and Ravage to the arrival of Soundwave, his dark violet biolights ever more so noticeable within the darkened setting. Knockout turned, and noticed Soundwave looking around for his mini-con, until they happened to glance down and spotted Ravage swishing his tail back and forth on the ground, yellow optics locked onto their master. Knockout started forth toward Soundwave, cracking a slight grin.
"I see you've come back for Ravage, no doubt. He's been good company so far, so I-"
"Bring Knockout to me." The physician stopped in their tracks when the voice of Megatron interrupted him.
"Ah..I-I see. So then, where might I find him?" Knockout asked, a little dissappointed he didn't get to fully desribe his experience with Ravage to the silent Decepticon. Soundwave paused a moment or two before he started another short recording,
"-we meet at the flight deck."
He projected, pointing his digit in the correct direction as an added gesture. Knockout blanked out for a nanosecond, before snapping back to reality and nodding with a nervous curve to his usual smile, briskly walking out with no regard for what Soundwave might have been plotting as the pocket door swiftly shut behind him.
Soundwave looked down to their mini-con once more, Ravage tilting his head in curiosity, noticing Soundwave's clear diversion to get Knockout to leave his med-bay unattended. Soundwave ignored Ravage for the time being and began searching around lightly, picking up and setting down a few things on a certain table. Shortly after however, when this venture had come up with nothing, Soundwave started moving to other parts of the bay with heightened trepidation. Still nothing. Ravage could hear the frustration in their exhalations as their search began to become less civil.
They started trashing the room, frantically looking around the med-bay for an item Ravage was unaware of. His interest was piqued, so he got himself up and stretched out his legs with a cat-like yawn. Ravage was about to stand up before something made of glass flew right by his helm, then having the sense to duck down as another tool nearly flew straight into the middle of his processor and made a loud crash in the background as it made contact with the hard wall.
Ravage cried out an offended roar, but it was muffled under the constant banging of tools and other various instruments against any durable surface - periodically the ceiling.
Where...where is it?!
Soundwave thought furiously, wrecking the entire med-bay in his wake. The reason behind this otherwise unreasonably chaotic scene was to probe around for the cubical device that sent him into that dream, to finally view the rest of what the story had yet to tell. Although at first Soundwave was skeptical about its contents, he still wanted to understand it. He wanted to know why the dream felt so real, and why he's started to feel so...incomplete. He needs to know the rest of what happened, whether it was a fabricated reality or not.
He must have that device.
However, he wasn't having much luck. Instead, a room of wreckage was all he was left with. No doubt Knockout had hid the cube quite well in Soundwave's absence.
"Soundwave!!"
The voice of Knockout yelled angrily down the hall, the sound of his stomps heavy enough to have traveled to the other side of the ship. Soundwave knew he would be busted if he stayed any longer.
He gave a final look at Ravage, saying with his blank slate of expression to stay quiet about all this. Soundwave then swiftly snapped open a bridge and walked through it, leaving Ravage behind to provide Soundwave an alibi, as well as a witness to the decepticon Soundwave would plant in his place...
. . .
There was another loud whoosh of the ground bridge portal opening again,
however this time with a mud covered seeker faceplanting gracelessly onto the metal ground.
"Guh! I-I'm out! Haha!" Starscream proclaimed hysterically.
"Airachnid left me behind, that wretch, but she's probably still digging around like the idiotic, burrowing insecticon she is! While I..! I...wait. How did I get here? Where's Soundwave?" Starscream flicked his optics rapidly around the room, only to realize it'd practically been turned to scrap.
And then almost on queue, a very cross Knockout burst into the repair bay, his eyes holding an upset glare.
"Soundwave!! How dare- how...how did this happen!" Knockout completely disregarded Soundwave's humiliating goose chase they put him on when in the midst of his med-bay, utterly vandalized.
Starscream then realized the reason why Soundwave finally called in a ground bridge for him, withering slowly at Knockout's fearsome stare directed straight at him.
It was a trap.
______________________________________