The muffled sounds of the Bop Crew could be heard through the ceiling as Rocksteady and Poplock performed their song. It seems they were able to pull some strings in order to continue on in the competition without Oto. Although, the whereabouts of Oto and their friend Vaughan were on the least of everyone's minds right now.
Raoul was trying to force the door open, banging on it with foot, body slamming into it while the others idled around. He slammed into it one more time, wincing from the pain as he rubbed his soar arm.
"Forget it Raoul, you've been trying at this for hours. It's not going to open." Josh stated with a groan, sitting up against the wall.
Andrew glanced down at his side, finding his backpack on the floor along with the instruments that came crashing down with them. He picked it up, unzipping the bag as he pulled out his notebook that Vaughan had been borrowing to write the 'Counter Attack' song against the Mesmerizers. Although when he finally opened it to see what his friend had come up with, his eyes widened, saddening emotions filling him.
"Maybe it doesn't even matter that we're trapped down here," Andrew began as he showed everyone the pages. "I don't think the 'Counter Attack' song wouldn't have worked anyway."
"Of course it would have." Daphine stated, placing an assuring hand on the boys shoulder, before shooting a nasty glare at Raoul while flicking her hair out of the way of her face. "Assuming a certain someone didn't try to hog the spotlight the whole time we were trying to play it!"
Raoul crossed his arms, huffing. "Hey, if you want to tell Vaughan she's getting a little too caught up trying to be the new leader of this band, you don't have to be all cryptic about it."
That made something snap in Daphine's mind. Her eye brows narrowed, placing her hands on her hips. "I was talking about you, Raoul."
"Me?! I was just trying to make sure my band rocks as hard as it needs to." Raoul replied.
"OUR BAND!" The others yelled.
"If might have been your idea to start a band, but it's not just your band Raoul! This was Vaughan's band from the very beginning. I'm walking Cybertronian beginning!" Andrew stated.
"I'm the one who writes all the songs!" Raoul proclaimed.
"I write songs!" Andrew exclaimed, raising his hands in the air. "You just don't let us play any of them!"
"I just had the most perfect outfits for us to wear tonight." Daphine added.
Andrew groaned. "Again with the costumes! I agree with Jazz on this, no one cares what we're wearing!"
"I care Andrew! Sorry if I wanted to make a creative contribution to the band!" Daphine growled back at the boy, the two of them glaring at each other.
"Hey!" Josh screamed. "Do any of you remember fun? I'll give you a hint! It's the exact opposite of being in Music Nation!"
"I wish I never asked ANY of you to be in my band!" Raoul yelled.
"I wish I never agreed to it!" Daphine shouted back.
"Agreed!" Andrew and Josh added.
The four of them just went at it, going nuts. Yelling, nagging, and screaming at each other. They were so busy arguing that they didn't even notice a green glow surrounding them all. Then it gently seeped away from them, and sleeked through the cracks of the ceiling and spewed onto the floor of the stage.
********
When the Bopcrew was finished preforming their song, a set of fireworks erupted as the audience clapped and cheered them on as they walked off the main stage. They passed by the Mesmerizers who were all dressed up for the occasion.
Dagio was wearing a dark purple dress shirt with a open up black vest on top, dark purple dress pants, black bots, and a dark purple, miniature king crown on his head.
Mitso was wearing a dark purple v-neck tank top with white jeans and a yellow jacket tied around his waist, with dark purple sneakers, and green finger-less gloves.
Sanato wore a pink striped, sleevless shirt with a dark pink tie around his neck, a light blue belt with dark purple pants, purple wrist bands and his high tops.
"Try and top that." Poplock taunted as he and Rocksteady high-fived each other, walking off the stage.
"Oh drat, I don't think we can." Dagio spoke sarcastically.
Mitso and Sanato laughed at their leaders remark before cutting them off with a wave of his hand. He inclined his head towards the floor and the three of them spotted the green smoke floating around at their feet.
"It's show time." Dagio grinned.
********
Vaughan huddled in the corner of her cell at Decepticon Headquarters. Her mind was racing, tears threatening to escape as she mumbled to herself.
"First the 'Counter Attack' song doesn't work and now this? How could I not know what to do? How could I have failed like this?"
She buried her face in her chest, pulling her knees up as she wrapped her arms around her legs.
She heard metal footsteps walking towards the cell. She didn't even bother to look up to see who it was. She already knew.
"Go away, Oto." She growled saying his name. "Or do you prefer Soundwave?"
The mech sighed, looking down at her with sympathy. "Vaughan-Remix, I didn't want it to go like this. I didn't want to hurt you."
"Well? You did a bang up job of screwing that plan over." She replied.
"Just please, listen to me and hear me out?" He asked.
Vaughan shifted her weight, turning herself so her back faced the Decepticon. "I am not talking to you."
"I had a feeling you'd say that." said Soundwave.
"Feeling? You should have known I'd say it, after what you did." Vaughan growled.
"Just please, listen to me. If you won't talk then fine. I need to get this out of my system, now that Megatron's finally not looking over my shoulder." Soundwave insisted.
That seemed to catch the girls attention. Although she showed no signs of the communications officer that she was interested, her brain perked up, ready to listen as she moved a strand of her hair back over her right ear.
"Whatever the Autobots told you about me killing you, don't pay attention to that. I didn't kill you. We may have been rivals, heck I'm pretty sure we still are considering everything we've been through, but not once have I ever thought of committing such a crime. You may have heard that my weapon was involved. A few days prior to the murder, my gun was stolen from me. I filed a report but the police never got back to me. When I heard about the murder, I was completely shocked... and devastated. After the police were done questioning me, and released me, I slowly grew into a depression."
Soundwave?... Depressed?
"I was upset and angry, it caught the attention of Megatron. Prior to the war, I had met him once before when he offered me a place in the Decepticons, but during that time, I refused. But on that day, with all that I was feeling, I took him up on his offer."
"... So you joined the Decepticons just because you were angry?" Vaughan asked quietly.
There was a pause from the Communications Officer as underneath his visor, he actually... smiled. He pulled up a chair from the computer console next to the cell, sitting down.
"Something like that, but not exactly true." He answered. "I had heard that Remix was baptized before her murder, and religion and such was a huge topic on Cybertron. I wasn't sure at first, but I had to take a chance for what I was about to do."
Wait, what?
"After I joined the Decepticons, I joined in on the assault on Iacon. I managed to give my squadron the slip and pull off my own mission. I broke into the Hall of Records, and stormed into Alpha Trion's office, stealing a page from his book and taking off before he could catch me." He continued.
"The page Remix's..."
"Reincarnation." Soundwave nodded.
Finally, Vaughan stood up to her feet, slowing turning around to face Soundwave. "You... wanted to..."
"Bring you back." He answered.
She walked over to the end of the cell, holding onto the metal bars. "So the powers, the tests..."
"Those were attempted experiments to revive your Cybertronian form. I read the page about how you would be reincarnated as a human. At first, I joined the Decepticons because I thought I'd nothing else to lose, but then I came across their technology, and that's when I discovered that they contained the resources I needed to try and bring you back." Soundwave explained.
"So you're just using the Decepticons?" Vaughan asked him with a bit of hope.
"After I came to realize that I never wanted to be a Decepticon to begin with, I focused all of my attention on trying to bring you back. However as my work progressed, Megatron started to become curious. I had to lie, create a plan to throw him off. That's when the Mesmerizer's came along. I told him that I had a plan to use Remix's powers for our personal gain." Soundwave explained before venting heavily. "Sometimes I wish I just left him then and this wouldn't have happened."
"... You still can." said Vaughan.
Soundwave's helm perked up, looking at her. "What?"
"There's still time for you to switch sides. Bust me out of here and take me to Optimus Prime. Tell him everything you told me, and we'll figure something out. We can defeat the Mesmerizers and the Decepticons, together." Vaughan stated.
Soundwave looked unsure at first. He lowered his helm, his processor deep in thought at the possibilities. "... Alright."
He stood up from his seat, and just before he was about to open up the cage, an image appeared on the screen of the computer console.
"Soundwave!" Megatron called.
Soundwave flinched, his arm retracting back to his side as he looked at the screen. "Yes Lord Megatron?"
"It's time to get going. The Mesmerizers will up on stage soon. I think we should attend and watch the show, don't you think?" Megatron suggested.
"...Affirmative, Lord Megatron." Soundwave nodded. "But, what about her?"
"Vaughan Witwickey? Look at her! She's finished. Leave her there to decay, and target the Space Bridge for New York City." Megatron ordered.
"Yes sir." Soundwave replied.
Megatron cut the feed as the screen went to static before displaying the space bridge controls.
"What are you going to do?" Vaughan asked.
"I'm going to New York." Soundwave answered.
"Without me?" She asked with surprise.
"Not exactly." Soundwave replied, typing in something into the computer. "After me and the rest of the Decepticons leave, I'll rig your cage to open. Follow the conduits on the ceiling, it will take you to the space bridge. Once you step inside, it's set to transport you to New York City." Soundwave explained. "Can you manage that?"
"You can bet on it, Soundwave." Vaughan grinned.
He nodded as he finished up typing the commands. Before he took off out of the room, he looked over at the girl. "Good luck, Remix."
"You too." Vaughan replied.
He stood there for a moment longer before taking off out of the room.
Vaughan waited there for a few moments, then she heard a 'click'. She grabbed onto the metal bars of the cage door and pushed, the door opening with ease.
She smiled, running out of the cage and making a break down the hall. She followed the conduits and found the space bridge in a large room.
She examined the large device before stepping inside, the doors sliding shut behind her as it powered on.
"New York City, here I come."