Transformers Fan Fiction ❯ Silence ❯ Scattered Thoughts ( Chapter 3 )

Silence, Chapter 3 - Scattered Thoughts

He had to get away.

He had to figure out what was wrong with him. What was causing this.

Madness.

Was he going mad?

If the other Decepticons knew of this they would destroy him.

There would be no one here to protect his cassettes.

The shadows followed him, tracing his steps. They were waiting…

Waiting for him.

He didn't know where he was, the only thing he knew was…

He had to get away.

Megatron paced the room in silence, trying to figure out where Soundwave would go. Any kind of special place he liked to hang out, or somewhere he wanted to visit. He came up blank. The cassettes also tried to think of a place their creator would go, but they too came up with nothing. Soundwave left the Decepticon base only when his missions required it. While the leader of the Decepticons would never admit it to anyone, he was worried. Very worried.

"Don't bother looking for him," They whirled around to face Starscream.

"You dared to eavesdrop?" Megatron growled as he stood over Starscream threateningly. Starscream raised his hands in defense.

"Hey…I'm your second in command. I have a right to know!" Megatron aimed the barrel of his canon at his disobedient subordinate. "But, you know the rules! Hell, you made them! If a Decepticon were ever to lose his mind and can't fulfill his duties, then he is to be immediately terminated…"

"Only if it's irreversible or if the Decepticon can easily be replaced," Megatron snarled. "Such as you, for example. I would simply have to find another Decepticon with decent fighting skills and I'm done." Starscream scowled. "But Soundwave…where would I find another Decepticon who can hack computers, create energon cubes, create more Decepticons, espionage… need I go on?"

"Point taken…" Starscream hissed. "But if whatever he has is irreversible, I've got dibbs on his execution!" The jet transformer stormed off.

"Buzzsaw, keep an eye on Starscream. I want to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble," Megatron commanded as soon as his second in command was out of the room. The bird nodded in response and flew out of the room. "Frenzy, go and find Laserbeak and Ratbat. Tell them about what happened and have them look for Soundwave." Frenzy nodded, his face tight with worry. He swiftly ran off to find his brethren.

"I'm worried about him…" Rumble admitted softly.

"Don't worry," Megatron said, his voice surprisingly soft. "We'll find him."

Inside of the Autobot base sat Optimus Prime, calmly watching Spike and his father engaged in a game of something called "football." The Autobot leader found this rather curious, as the two humans appeared to be ramming into each other, both trying to take hold of the ball. To him it looked as if the two were engaged in a fight, but both of them insist that it's some kind of fun sport.

Spike ran backwards with the ball, "Catch this, Dad!"

"Okay son," Sparkplug also ran backwards and readied himself for the catch. "Throw it!" The younger human hurled the ball toward his father.

Suddenly, Ironhide ran in. Sparkplug turned to look at the crimson transformer and the football nailed him in the head.

"Dad! You alright?!" Spike asked as he rushed to his father's side.

"What's wrong, Ironhide?" Optimus Prime could tell by the look on the younger robot's face that something was wrong.

"Optimus, I got a message from Prowl…" Ironhide began. The Autobot leader nodded. Prowl had been patrolling near the power plants to the north of the base. "He said he picked up Soundwave on his radar scans."

"Soundwave?" Optimus tilted his head slightly. "There to attack the power plant, no doubt."

"That's what I thought too," Ironhide commented. "But no, he walked right by without even laying an eye on it. I don't know what the heck he's doing, but I'll bet it can't be good."

Suddenly, Ironhide's comlink came on. Prowl's voice was on the other end. "Ironhide, can you hear me? Ironhide!"

"I'm here," Ironhide responded.

"I'm under attack! I need backup!" Prowl cried. Gunshots could be heard in the background.

"Who's attacking ya?" Ironhide asked.

"Just Soundwave. I don't even see any of his cassettes. I could normally take him…but he's giving me a really hard time this time," Prowl answered.

"Relay your position," Prime issued his command into Ironhide's comlink.

"Just north of the base, right by the power plant,"

"Alright, we're on our way…" Prime turned to leave.

"Optimus!" the Autobot leader stopped. "I think…I think something's wrong."

"Why?" Ironhide asked.

"Well, he's not doing anything to the power plant itself…he's only attacking me. And I don't see any of his cassettes. Under normal circumstances I would have been molested by his cassettes by now…" Prowl answered.

"Alright Prowl, we'll keep that in mind. Just hold on, we're on our way," Prime ordered. "Ironhide, get Wheeljack, Mirage and Bumblebee-"

"Can I go too, Optimus?" Spike asked.

"Yes Spike, but be careful and stay with Bumblebee."

Prowl was successful in leading his adversary a safe distance away from the power plant. However he was beginning to tire. Soundwave on the other hand looked like he was just getting started. This whole situation was confusing. It wouldn't have been shocking to see Starscream attacking him, but Soundwave was smarter than that. He wouldn't simply attack an Autobot without a plan behind it. Initially Prowl thought that Soundwave was trying to distract him while his cassettes raided the power plant, but throughout their fight he had kept an eye on it. The power plant remained undamaged and the cassettes were nowhere to be found. Very odd…

Soundwave flew up and shot down a rain of laser beams at the police Autobot. Prowl barely strafed aside and retaliated with his own array of beams. Two of them hit their mark and yet Soundwave appeared unfazed.

They better get here soon…

Soundwave took aim and fired again.

The shadows surrounded him. But he had finally found their leader.

Maybe if he destroyed their leader the rest would fade away.

Maybe their laughter would stop.

But their leader was much more nimble than the other shadows. Barely any of his frantic blasts connected.

Their leader shot back at him, yet he barely felt the blows connect.

He couldn't let himself fall. He couldn't let those things beat him.

If he died there would be no one here to protect his cassettes.

There would be no one here to make energon cubes for Megatron.

No one here to keep an eye on Starscream.

No one.

He raised his canon and fired again. This time he hit his mark.

The leader fell.

But the shadows kept laughing…

Optimus Prime, Wheeljack, Mirage, Ironhide and Bumblebee arrived at the scene to find Prowl sprawled out on the floor. Soundwave was flying above them, firing an array of shots.

"Bumblebee, Wheeljack, protect Prowl. Ironhide you, Mirage and I will fight Soundwave," Optimus Prime commanded.

"Op…Optimus," Prowl raised his head to regard his leader. "Be careful… some.. something's wrong…"

The Autobot leader nodded. "I will, you just take care of yourself now"

Soundwave landed quite a few feet away. He raised his gun and fired a barrage of lasers. Wheeljack and Bumblebee lifted Prowl to his feet, each holding one of the injured Autobot's arms. Ironhide and Optimus Prime fired back. Soundwave did nothing to dodge their assaults, and yet the attacks didn't even slow him down. Soundwave flew back up into the air, raining lasers on the whole team. Optimus Prime found it odd that he made no attempt to flee or even to find cover. He had figured that once they arrived Soundwave would find himself outnumbered and run away. But that was not the case. Prowl was right, something was wrong. Mirage edged closer to his leader. "Optimus, I have an idea…"

He had felled the leader.

Yet the shadows kept coming.

Their laughter echoed in the air.

Now there were five more leaders.

Was there no end to them?

Once Wheeljack and Bumblebee carried Prowl a safe distance away, Wheeljack raced back to where the others were. Bumblebee and Spike stayed back where Prowl was and surveyed the battle from afar.

Optimus and Ironhide continued to shoot back at Soundwave, but it was becoming more difficult to hit him because he had the aerial advantage. Suddenly, Megatron came from the sky.

"Soundwave!" Megatron yelled. The cassette player decepticon stopped to the sound of his leader's voice, and turned to see him. While his back was turned, Optimus Prime took careful aim and fired. He hit his mark - Soundwave's flight system. The decepticon fell from the sky and landed heavily on the ground. Upon impact, a small object ejected from his forehead and landed on the floor with a clatter. The dark blue robot appeared to be unconscious.

The Megatron hologram faded as Mirage revealed himself from several feet away.

"What's this?" Wheeljack commented as he knelt down next to his fallen adversary and picked up the small object.

"A cerebral shell?" Optimus asked.

"Maybe…but this is the strangest one I've ever seen," Wheeljack was right in his observation. This particular cerebral shell was larger, and had a panel on the side. When the scientist Autobot opened the panel, there was nothing inside. The shell appeared to be hollow. "I'm going to scan this when we get back."

"So what're we gonna do about-" Ironhide began. Suddenly Soundwave scrambled onto his feet, startling them all. Before any of them could react, he leapt into the air and despite the damage his flight system received he flew off. "Should I go after him?!"

"No," Optimus replied with a shake of his head. "Lets go back to base and analyze that shell…"

Megatron growled in frustration. No matter where they looked, they came up with nothing. Soundwave could be anywhere! Ravage attempted to trace Soundwave's tracks, but eventually the trail ended. At one point it seems Soundwave took it to the skies. Yet Ratbat and Laserbeak also came up with nothing. It was if their creator had vanished off the face of the earth.

The more time that elapsed, the more worried he became.

What if he was dead? Megatron decided not to come to that conclusion until he found reasonable evidence.

"Masta' Megatron!" Frenzy cried, running into the room. The decepticon leader turned to regard the smaller robot. "The Autobots are here!"

"What?!" Megatron growled. What the hell could they want? This wasn't a good time to be fighting Autobots.

"The other decepticons'r attackin' them, but they ain't fightin' back. Optimus Prime says he wants to talk to you," Frenzy explained.

"Tell the decepticons to cease fire. I will talk to him," Megatron commanded.

Megatron walked out to find Optimus Prime standing before a handful of other Autobots. They were all armed, but none of them had their weapons out.

"Speak, Optimus Prime," Megatron stated warily. "Give us a good reason why we shouldn't annihilate you all where you stand."

Prime was silent for a long time. "Because Soundwave's a walking time bomb."