Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ Silence ❯ Initial Confusion ( Chapter 1 )

Silence

Soundwave stood silently in the shadows of a large corridor inside of a small fortress. The hallway led into a room where the Insecticons were scheming. It was surprising that the Insecticons had the mental capacity to build their own fortress, and not only that, they had hid it so well that it took the espionage expert three months with the help of his cassettes to find it. Soundwave had even gone so far as to wonder if the Insecticons were far more intelligent than Megatron ever gave them credit for. The Decepticon was in his tape deck mode laying on the floor against the wall. He knew very well just how dangerous it was to be this close, however he had to know what exactly it was they were planning. The Decepticons had not heard anything about the Insecticons for a long time, and considering the traitorous tendencies they seem to have, it was dangerous to leave them unsupervised. Megatron was even further baffled by how difficult it was for Soundwave to find. So as soon as their location was found, the stocky blue robot was immediately sent to spy on them. Obviously if the Insecticons went through enough pains to build themselves a hidden fortress they had something important to hide.

It was very difficult to spy on them, for their fortress had barely anything in it. No tables, chairs, it was simply barren. Perhaps it was because of the eternal hunger that plagued them, maybe they simply couldn't have chairs or desks because they'd eat them. However, Soundwave had not wanted to disappoint his commander and took a great risk by sneaking in. Inside of his chest cavity Laserbeak sat, the others were either back at the Decepticon base or spying elsewhere. There was something about this mission that made Soundwave want to leave all of his cassettes behind, but he knew that it would have been unwise not to have brought at least one of them.

Even at this close range, Soundwave couldn't hear them. It was very strange, because his hearing was much more acute than most, and for him not to be able to hear at this close range was very disorientating. Perhaps the walls were built with some kind of material that prevented sound vibrations from passing through at all? Eventually Soundwave decided that he was going to have to get closer to hear them. He transformed into his robot mode and inched up closer to the edge of the wall. Detaching a small microphone into his hand, he held it right past the edge of the wall, and he could finally hear the Insecticons talking.

"Finally, the new plan can take place!" Bombshell's voice came from the room.

"Yes, the trap is set!" Kickback's voice could be heard.

"And snared, snared!" Shrapnel's voice came from behind Soundwave! Before the navy blue robot could turn around he found himself pressed against the wall. He could only watch out of the corner of his visor as Bombshell shot something into his neck. He felt a strange numbing sensation spread throughout his body, then finally darkness.

Upon awakening Soundwave found himself in robot mode, sitting down and leaning heavily against the wall of the corridor. He felt vaguely numb and disorientated, and tried to figure out what had just happened. But he couldn't remember anything, it was as if he had simply blacked out in the middle of his mission. Yet still he felt that he was forgetting something. Like he had a wayward memory just beyond his reach. He scanned Laserbeak to find that his status had not changed. He could sense that the Insecticons were still in the room that they were in before. Obviously Soundwave couldn't have blacked out long. It was odd that Laserbeak had not noticed his creator's sudden bout of unconsciousness, but before he could think more about it, a sudden feeling gripped him.

All he could see was darkness, all he heard was silence, as if the world had collapsed beneath him into nothingness. Had he lost his mind?! Suddenly, he could see the inside of the corridor again, but the feeling of urgency still gripped him. A feeling of dread, that he had to get out of there immediately or the world was going to crash around him. Yet despite this overwhelming feeling of panic, he managed to sneak out of the place undetected, or so he had thought…

"Well, did you find anything about what the Insecticons are planning?" Megatron asked.

"Negative," Soundwave answered in his usual monotone. "Audio reception impossible."

"You imbecile!" Megatron growled. "Try again tomorrow, and this time don't disappoint me!"

"Yes, master Megatron," Soundwave said. He then turned and left the throne room. Once he was gone, Megatron let out a sigh. He knew just how hard Soundwave was working, and how difficult this mission apparently is. He also cared much more for his espionage expert than anyone would have ever known. However, he could not let himself go easy on his subordinate, as it would only make things harder for the both of them. Showing favor for a certain transformer would inspire jealousy among his other soldiers. The violence and hostility that would be directed at Soundwave would help things even less than the resentment that would be directed at himself. Also the fact that the idea of his second in command sharing the same feelings were slim to none. Soundwave rarely showed emotion at all, much less something as deep and strong as the feelings his leader had for him.

Soundwave walked silently back into his chambers. Rumble, Laserbeak and Ratbat were inside of their creator's chest cavity, and despite the Decepticon's outward stoic appearance, the cassettes felt his frustration. When inside of the Soundwave's tape deck, their consciousness connected with his, and while none of them were capable of reading into their creator's thoughts, they could sense his immediate feelings. They could feel his anger or fear whenever he fought the Autobots, his frustration and disappointment whenever he failed an assignment, and his excitement and joy after a successful mission. None of the other Decepticons had ever been capable of reading Soundwave, and to most it appeared that Soundwave didn't have any emotions at all. That whether he won or lost, during good situations or bad, he always retained his cold demeanor and monotonous voice. The only transformer that seemed capable of reading Soundwave at all was Megatron himself. And then there was the wave of emotion they felt while inside their creator's chest cavity whenever they were in the presence of their leader.

The cassettes had quite a difficult time trying to evaluate on the emotional pulse they would feel from Soundwave in regards to Megatron. It was much different than any emotional response they had ever felt from him. The only emotional pulse that was even remotely similar was whenever he praised or showed affection to their siblings. Such as whenever he would pet Ravage or praise Frenzy for a job well done. Rumble had figured that the emotion they felt from Soundwave in those situations was the transformer representation of what humans called "love." However it was a confusing element for the cassettes because they were well aware to the fact that transformers were built without the capability to process such strong emotional impulses. And even if that was the case, what he felt for Megatron had to be a different kind of love, for if it was the same they would have felt the same pulse. But the one they felt in his presence had a different frequency.

Ratbat had once suggested to Rumble to ask Soundwave about it, which Rumble had initially agreed. However after giving it more thought Rumble ultimately decided against it. He had the impression that even Soundwave himself didn't know exactly the identification of his own feelings. His forte was in neural circuitry and espionage, when it came to human-esque emotions he was unfamiliar.

Ever since Soundwave's return from his failed espionage attempt at the Insecticon fortress he had changed. Outwardly no one would have ever guessed, but while inside of his chest cavity the cassettes could sense it. The emotional pulses they felt were normally slow and rhythmic, symbolizing his calm and collective demeanor. Now they were erratic, slow one instant while fast the next. It unnerved the cassettes, they knew something was wrong. Very wrong.