tap...
ta-tap...
tap-tap-tap....
Their slender, clawed digits glided diligently across the keys as they scanned for energon readings, examining the day's compiled data. Their visor displayed a cold, abyssal black, with slim waves periodically crossing over them as they recorded their work. Their companion, Laserbeak, called to them, and the silent Decepticon observed coolly as it flew over, hovering behind them as they toiled away. Soundwave paid their miniature partner no other significant regard, and slowly turned their gaze back to the projected screen in front of them.
Soon after that, however, an all too familiar voice entered the bridge with unwavering, unconcerned authority; causing Soundwave to pause yet again in the midst of their assignment.
"Soundwave, have you managed to come across any undiscovered sightings of energon as of yet?" The menacing voice of Lord Megatron dragged out the name of their subordinate slyly, his servos placed behind him while his wicked smile traveled to the screen. Soundwave's face plate stayed glued to the view of symbols and encrypted data in front of them, knowing Lord Megatron valued such diligency.
"Not yet, Lord Megatron," They crackled out an answer from the voice of Starscream, with an underlying computerized tone. Laserbeak echoed a high-pitched whir as an added reply, sounding somewhat deflated, if it were possible. The Lord of the Decepticon's expression soured, and his smile quickly faded into that of irritated impatience. He let out a short exhale.
"Well then--let's hope you find something soon." Lord Megatron's domineering voice halfway commanded, followed by a mildly dissatisfied side glance as he turned his back to the Third in Command. Finding it fruitless to force out further words from their subordinate, the Decepticon Leader took his leave. Lord Megatron's heavy footfalls reverberated loudly against the dull metal walls as he strided back into the heart of the Nemesis, his servos still clasped neatly against his back.
Surveillance Chief Soundwave displayed no difference of change in his stature nor expression, only absorbing his leader's words wordlessly within his mind and resuming his work with intense and competent earnest. Unfortunately, Soundwave was not graced with the proper conditions to fufill his work in tranquility this day.
Hardly giving anytime between, therein came another Decepticon that decided to make an entrance to the main-bridge, whom of which went by the ironic designation of Knockout, compared to his rather lackluster skills in combat. The vain mech entered the main bridge, with his paint job buffed out in a particularly eye-catching vermillion red sheen. He passed by Megatron, exaggeratedly reeling his helm back from surprise at first when the pocket door revealed each other's presence. Lord Megatron heeded not a moment of his esteemed gaze towards the physician, though the doctor still put in the effort to display a curt bow to their almighty leader. After the Lord had trailed down the Nemesis' corridor a small ways, Knockout promptly stood up straight again and sent a shimmering grin in Soundwave's direction, though the most Knockout could have argued to have received in turn was a brief, dispassionate glance from the edge of Soundwave's ebony visor, the lighting from above reflecting a slight shine onto the Third in Command that made their stare a little less intimidating.
Knockout, having been well accustomed to such cold, aloof stares, was hardly affected by it either way, and casually strode closer down the walkway Soundwave was residing upon, deciding to strike up a conversation to bide his time in the absence of patients to tend to.
"Why hello there, Soundwave, what are you up to these days? Same old same old, I suppose?" He called out to the Second Leiutenant with his usual silver-tongued voice, pausing his gait when he arrived close enough to the control deck to speak at a normal voice level. Not able to find much company in the halls of the Nemesis as of recent, Knockout had resorted to chatting with the least social Decepticon he'd ever laid optics upon. That and of course, graciously providing his shining existence to all, as Knockout would most likely coin it. Though, if the Communications and Surveillance Chief should have a say, they'd have considered his presence more blindingly annoying than anything.
Soundwave decided not to waste his breath on answering such an open-ended inquiry, which would in turn most likely end up as a full fledged conversation - and instead ignored it outright.
After a semi-brief wait, it was made clear that Soundwave had no inention of answering, causing Knockout to bare a distinct expression of dissatisfaction across his faceplate, folding his arms against his chest plate with an irked humph.
"Oh come now, why do you always have to be so silent all the time... You've got pipes, don't you?" He rolled his optics, his smooth-spoken voice echoing around the large chamber. Soundwaves' digits froze at Knockout's remark, and they both stood there underneath the quiet drone of the ship's engines, long enough to make the silence uncomfortable for at least one of them.
"Well then, I must apologize. I didn't know you were so sensitive." Knockout quoted sarcastically with a huff, his apology clearly dressed in a mocking manner. The physician's face plate tugged downwards into a thin frown before he slowly turned away and stepped back off into the hull, instantly losing interest in further pestering the Surveillance Chief.
"Tch..mute..." Soundwave could hear him mutter before the door whirred shut.
One of Soundwave's servos involuntarily curled into a fist for a few moments, but he let it go. No sense in getting a rise out of a passing insult that didn't have an inch of thought put into it. With an inaudible vent, Soundwave went back to rapidly typing on the keys, the monitor giving out various signals in response. The screen happened to blur for an obscure moment, and Soundwave's dark visor couldn't see it clearly. He motioned closer in question.
Strange...
This had never happened before.
He blinked, believing it would solve the conundrum, yet it still failed to correct his malfunctioning vision. Suddenly, his helm began to sway, and he started to lose his sense of balance. Soundwave managed to support himself from falling by reflexively grabbing the solid desk he had been typing upon with a shaky servo. Yet, this act still couldn't stop his optics from the dark illusion it was to materialize for himself.
. . .
Terrible, vagrant flames engulfed everything it laid it's scorching hand upon; nothing was to escape its fiery grasp. No one was there to aid me. I was left helpless as its vibrantly painted tendrils crept ever closer, dancing around just out of reach as if to taunt my fear. The ever increasing heat felt like it was melting me alive, and it wouldn't be long before it would..
Soundwave forcibly shook his helm, ventilating out heavily as both his servos grasped the edge of the desk for dear life, a sickening screech of metal being produced from his claws digging viciously into the thin steel.
"No..." Soundwave echoed woefully in a recorded clip of sound, lifting a trembling servo to the tip of his black tinted visor.
Not...now....
Soundwave managed to compose themselves before any other Decepticons gave their report, keeping themselves upright for now. The waves on their visor, picking up on their heavy breathing - lessened, and their helm lowered to stare at the cold metal flooring.
Nothing can change what happened...
Shaking their helm once more, they returned their optics back to the screen, albeit with a somewhat off-kilter manner now.
Sounwave's sudden flashback of sorts that appeared out of the blue; there was reasoning behind it. Occasionally, the trauma from that day would be triggered by some random event or situation Soundwave was in. Though usually, they could handle it without much trouble. Normally, the flashback was more visually vague, and only showed a few brief moments of the experience. Soundwave could not grasp the idea as to why it was now suddenly getting worse at such a severely crippling rate.
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-!"
"We. Don't. Help them, alright?" The bot snapped, ending the argument then and there.
Soundwave gasped, struggling to get anything into his intake, making it sound more like hoarse rasps than what most would consider breathing. Another quick glance around, and fortunately there were still no witnesses in immediate proximity. Calming himself down once more, Soundwave gradually relaxed as Laserbeak chirred in concern, moving their head around to see what caused its master so much trouble.
Perhaps, those memories will finally let me be for today.
Soundwave prayed in false hope. These flashbacks of his were starting to get a little too vivid...
He glanced up at his companion Laserbeak once again, looking for reassurance - only for its sleek, metal figure to slowly blur away, and for icy blue optics to take its place instead. Soundwave winced in pain, sliding down the wall and to the floor. His servos shook involuntarily in front of his slender frame as he asked himself within the crorrupted depths of his mind, the cause of his torturous daydreams...
. . .
The mech stared me down as I looked up to him, petrified. I don't know how I wronged them, or why they suddenly wanted to kill me, but it only further sent me spiraling into a desperate, near primal need to flee. Then, the mech suddenly crouched beside me, an unreadable expression crossing his face plate.
"You. Tell you what. If you can manage to run far away enough to where I cant shoot you down, I'll let ya live. I'll even give you a headstart. Hm?"
The bot tweaked their head with a pleased smile and a hum. The other mech looked like they wanted to oppose, but couldn't. Yet, still, I could say nothing. It was if my voice box had rusted shut, and I was helpless against any sort of force of will. The angry mech wasnt pleased. In fact, he looked even angrier at my unwillingness to cooperate. But, still, it was a twisted condition to agree to in the first place. I wasn't going to subject myself to target practice at his leisure. I probably wouldn't get anywhere near far before he'd shoot me down anyway, his accoutre suiting that of a high ranking sharp-shooter.
"Oh, so you think you can just stay silent, huh? I was going to give ya' a chance, but now you went and blew it!" The mech then stomped his heel strut into my servo mercilessly, digging it in with fiendish exihilaration as he laughed at my pained outcries of lamentation.
"No, stop this! None of this is what we stand for!" The second bot yelled out in disturbed protest. The other paused, and scoffed lightly, realizing a little late he'd gone too far. Glancing away with narrowed optics, he let off his weight. Quickly, before I would fall, the other mech took my arm and pulled me out of the hole, my entire servo throbbing and hurting like pit. Once I was safely onto solid ground, I heaved a shaky vent.
The angry mech seems to have laid off his claim of killing me, and I was able to escape the sink hole...am I safe?
"Fine...but, let me at least give him a little farewell present," The bot said in passing, pulling out some sort of tool. My whole frame stiffened.
A...blowtorch? For what reason?
"Wh- Don't!" The Autobot blurted out. The mech whom saved my life was painted a soft gold; now faded and peeling at the edges of his scuffed armor. In stark contrast were those shining blue optics of his, now panicked beyond recognition. The other, who would rather see me dead as a corpse, had a dull, black paint job with an ugly purple covering their arms and down their sides. The golden mech tried to stop them, but failed pitifully. The nightmarish sable colored bot pushed him aside, glowering at him.
"Stay back, stupid piece of scrap metal," He spat, glaring the mech down before turning back to face me with a sinister glint in his optics.
"Well, I guess if you won't talk, we can make sure we keep it that way." He smirked.
I had suddenly come to a realization. That I had no chance of coming out of this unscathed from the beginning.
Not with that psychopath.
"No, wait!! Please- AHHHKG-HH-"
Yet, I still had to try. I would do anything, more than anything in that moment to stop that unbearable, searing, blistering pain.
I begged...and pleaded, and begged and begged and begged and-
Soundwave could hardly move. The only thing he could think of to save his teetering sanity was to claw at his own visor, manifesting a high-pitched screeching noise as he brought his clawed servos down to his cables, miniature sparks of light flying in random directions. The wavelengths on his visor were going haywire, as if he were having a complete meltdown of all his systems; which in truth was probably quite a close description of the current situation.
I'll never forgive them. Any of them. I'll kill every last one of-
"Hey there--Leiutenant Soundwave? What are you doin' down there?"
Breakdown's unforgettable voice asked gruffly, amid a hint of confusion. Soundwave's now scratched-to-all-pit visor traveled extraordinarily slowly to the direction of the large mech, the crazed wavelengths starting to normalize themselves again and disappear off the visor as they locked optics.
And now the Medic's assistant has come to bother me as well. Wonderful.
"Today's records..." Soundwave recovered enough to play back a simple recording for the wrecker. It surprised Breakdown for a moment, before he coughed an awkward ahem.
"Seems a little strange doing it down there though...maybe you get better signal or somethin'?" Breakdown raised an optical ridge at the bot, trying to make converse - similar to the vain doctor, but somewhat less impertinent.
Soundwave was as silent as ever, and now utterly motionless to boot. Breakdown waited a few more seconds before finally giving in on the subject of dragging another coherent sentence out of the Dececpticon, and yielded to the likely desire of Soundwave to leave their sight at once.
"Well, uh, good luck with your records...Second Lieutenant."
Soundwave watched Breakdown closely as he left, not questioning anything else that he must have surely saw. Soundwave clawed the wall in anguish when he went to stand, walking speedily to his quarters and making sure the door was closed behind him. As soon as it shut, he smashed his fist into it as hard as possible, catching a stray Vehicon by surprise that was walking by as a dent was formed right in front of their faceplate, cold fear the only thing that flashed before their optics in that split-moment.
. . .
I don't know how long it had been, but it was long enough for me to stop screaming, knowing it wouldn't change anything - let alone stop them. That golden mech could only stand and watch.. and I cursed him for it, but at the same time, I couldn't blame him. I wasn't worth two scraps to him, and sticking his neck out for me would have only led to disaster for him. All I could feel now was an excruciating ache near my neck cables, and an extreme struggle to even make out a single exchange of breath.
"Well, well! I think I did quite a number to you now. Its alright, though. Its not fatal, despite how hideous you look now."
The black mech sneered mockingly, flicking off the flame of the blow torch with a small wisp of smoke. I wanted to spit in his face and shove him into the dirt, yet here I was, pinned to the ground hardly concious.
I'd spotted a small puddle next to me, and I paused my thoughts, fixating my glowing optics upon it as if this miniature puddle could heal this awful sensation filling my every nerve. I was able to lift myself up enough to see myself in it, of which horror was then my only emotion. It wasn't exactly the clearest reflection, but I could still see that the blowtorch had burnt and blackened the very place where my voice box was located. Dread pooled within me, and I slowly went to bring my servo to my neck cables, before recoiling in mortification.
"N-" I started, but nothing came out.
I tried again, yet only a hoarse whisper came from what once was my voice.
I...I can't.
I can't talk...
Soundwave tore off their visor and threw it aside, their optics glowing dangerously. They hacked a cough, clutching their throat.
Why, why is it, what's wrong with-
Then their optics widened, interrupting their own train of thought.
No, why did I--the visor...
Soundwave flicked their gaze around rapidly, yet staying firmly against the wall for stability. It hadn't gone far of course; it had been laying dormant on the cold metal floor just a short distance away. With an unstable servo, they picked the mask back up, and shakily pressed it back into place with a soft click. Soundwave let out a harsh vent, keeping a light touch against it.
I made this visor...to hide the truth.
The truth of my silence.
_____________________________________