Chapter Text
Compared to Iacon, or any of the so-called city-states across Cybertron, Kaon was an extremely different place.
Instead of shining, high buildings, here the living areas of the bots seemed to blur into one giant mess, houses built on top of each other without any regard to safety, streets and bridges totally randomly placed across the chaos, with the whole place swarming with loud bots like the middle of an Insecticon hive.
And maybe the usually high level of noise was the reason why the shouting of a smaller group of bots was completely disregarded as an ordinary occurrence as they ran across one of the crowded streets, trying to keep up with the smaller femme in front of them.
"Get her already!" Yelled angrily one of the bigger mechs, pushing through the packed street with all his might to be able to keep up with the others. "We will get good money if we sell her parts!"
"I call dibs on her left optic!" Said one of the others as he jumped through some debris on the ground, trying to keep his still functional optic on the small flash of purple ahead, while the other just swung around out of its socket from the fast movements, only connected to the body by a few thin cables.
They were part traffickers, bots who hunted other, usually later forged and less roughened bots, to kidnap them and take them apart, either keeping the parts to themselves to help on their own state by it, or selling the pieces one by one to others who similarly needed them. And it seemed like that even the femme's attempt to make her frame less attractive to the traffickers by smudging some oil and dirt on it was not enough in this case to keep their attention away from her.
In the last few months, while she was looking for her Master and the other servants all across the planet, she ran into similar bots many times. In bigger cities, it was easier to spot them with their darkened frame and never fully complete bodies, but those only rarely followed middle or low caste bots, appearing to like bigger bots better, and they never looked in the smaller, glitched femme's way more than one time.
But Kaon was different.
Since the day she arrived here, she could feel the never-invited glances of these bots, always following her wherever she went, like they would try to calculate how much of her body would be salvageable, and how big their profit would be after selling all those parts. These bots disgusted her, making her underdeveloped wings do small twitches from time to time as she caught a glimpse of one of them, but deep down, she knew that she couldn't leave this place. Not without finding the others.
Her steps were swift while she dodged around in the crowd, avoiding obstacles and slipping under bigger bots to gain an advantage against her pursuers, never stopping, never slowing, like her life would have depended on it.
Because it probably did.
She imagined the saws that would cut her to pieces, taking out every useful part and leaving no trace of her on the planet, and this quickened her pace enough to let her finally leave the overcrowded street, turning into one of the back alleys between two bigger buildings.
The yellings quieted behind her, like they would have lost the trail of her, but as she finally slowed her steps from sprinting to a still faster running, something from above suddenly fell on her, and she crashed into the ground, her helm painfully slamming against the hard surface.
"I caught her!" Yelled the bot above her, pressing her onto the floor with his whole weight and pinning her servos down too. "Frag, you made us work for our money, femme."
"Take your hands off of me!" She hissed with anger while she turned her helm to the side, looking at the bot on her back.
The dark green mech seemed just as patched up as his companions, chunks of paint chipped from his every part that he tried to conceal by painting them over with a similar color, but the new paint just gave him an even more ragged look. His helm and servos were covered in scrapes and dents, with his whole right arm looking like it was a trophy from another part trafficking incident, and from his different colored optics, the femme was sure that one of them was a stolen piece too.
"For such a small bot, you seem quite vicious." The mech just held her with more strength, leaning closer and laughing above her like her escaping attempt would be the funniest thing in the world. "Let's see how quickly this facade will break when we take you apart, bit by bit, screw by screw..."
Gathering all her power, the femme quickly lifted her helm backwards, smashing the back of it into her attacker's face, which made his hold ease for a second. It was just enough time for her to twist her hand and grab the other's wrist, yanking it downward while she shifted her whole body, making the green mech lose his balance. Energon pumped through her veins at a rapid rate as the femme rolled out from under her attacker, her clawed digits slashing through his already injured face to make it harder for him to follow, then, as she finally scrambled to her feet, the other traffickers appeared at the end of the alley.
The femme's optics darted between them, trying to find something that would be to her help, but because of their overpowering number and size, she didn't see much chance for it. Six bots, not counting the still swearing green mech on the ground, all staring at her like this would have been only a game to them as they slowly approached, knowing exactly what the femme just realised.
The back of the passage was blocked with a hill of trash, empty and half-shattered Energon cubes, and bigger and smaller junk metal, the whole mix creating a slippery and unstable surface that would be hard to climb with the bots being close enough to grab her before she could reach a safe height.
There was no way that she could win against them, and she had no chance of escaping.
As they stepped closer with wide, sadistic smiles taking over their features, the femme's antennas lowered fully, and her fists clenched, ready to slice up the one who would get close enough to her first, while she still tried to back away as far as possible.
"Get away from me, you fragging rustpiles!" She hissed at them, only earning a low chuckle from the group while their slow footsteps echoed through the narrow alley. "I warn you, don't come any closer!"
"Oh, but we just want to play with you a little!" The biggest mech said, finally getting close enough to grab their comrade, pulling him up from the ground. "Come on, you dirtkisser! Would you let a small femme knock you out this easily?"
"N-no, boss!" The green bot shook his helm quickly, trying to wipe off the Energon from his face.
"Then go on, get her!" Pushing the smaller mech toward the femme, the bigger bot continued. "Or you will be the one we take apart today!"
The green mech didn't need more encouragement; he immediately leaped toward the femme, trying to grab her or shove her against the ground like he did before, but the earlier slash through his faceplate disturbed his vision, and the smaller bot was quick enough to dodge the first attack. The others seemed to stop at this moment, watching the fight before them like it would be part of an enjoyable show, loudly whistling and clapping to motivate their comrade as he moved again, now moving close enough that his next hit made a cracking sound as his fist met with the femme's frame. The blow got her unsteady for a second, giving time for her attacker to hit her again, now targeting her helm, but eventually missing it as the femme moved her servos to protect herself, only hitting her armor instead. In the next second, a quick, but not very well aimed hit reached the green mech's lower torso, leaving light claw marks on him while the femme immediately jumped back, almost tripping in the trashpile behind her.
"Come on, finish her already!" Yelled one of the bots from the back.
The purple bot hissed at them again, her optics darkening as she steadied her stance and concentrated her attention on the angry mech in front of her, waiting for his next attack, while in her mind, a possible plan started to form.
She only needed a few seconds, just a short moment for the traffickers to lose the upper hand in this situation, and she would have a slight chance of escaping. Just something... anything that would disturb them enough to stop.
Her gaze wandered over the mech's frame, suddenly stopping at the right arm that was so unlike the rest of the body, and her deformed wings twitched from the recognition.
If it wasn't the original servo of the green bot, there was a chance that the connecting wires were not properly attached to the limb. Especially if some underground medic did the work, with improper tools, in a rushed job...
She didn't think twice about this opportunity.
When the mech attacked her in the next second, charging headfirst to weaken her with another hit, the femme evaded the blow by crouching down and dodging to the bot's right side, grabbing his wrist in the process. Her digits gripped the appendage tightly, turning it outward until she heard the wires snapping and gears crackling, then, without any hesitation, she kicked the mech, pushing his whole body away, while her hold only tightened on the servo.
The dozens of little wires that connected the arm to the shoulder all snapped at the same time, separating it completely as the dark green mech fell backwards toward his companions, with small electric sparks jumping out from the now empty place where his servo was previously, and a quickly growing, blue puddle around him.
That was the exact opportunity the femme wanted.
Disturbed by the sight, the other traffickers just stood there motionless, some staring at the green mech, while others looked at the severed servo in the smaller femme's hold, but without waiting for anything, she threw the arm in the face of the biggest mech, and bolted toward the trashpile behind, starting to climb over it as quickly as possible.
"Don't just fragging stand here, grab that glitch!" One of the mechs yelled when they finally gathered themselves, jumping after her onto the trash, but with their bigger size, they immediately slipped and fell back.
The femme quietly chuckled at this. Being almost at the top of the pile already, and climbing rapidly, she pulled herself through empty crates and grabbed broken and sharp pipe pieces, but didn't stop, didn't slow even when her hand slipped, and she cut herself on one of them.
When she finally got on top, she dared to peek back toward her pursuers, but before her happiness could go any further, she glanced forward... and instantly understood why this pile of trash was blocking the way.
Before her, a dark, deep hole appeared, with its bottom nowhere to be seen, disappearing into the pitch black below.
A crack between the layers of the Pits, a misfit accident that happened with the shifting of Cybertron, not quite an ordinary view... But being right in the middle of the city? It was a rare phenomenon.
The femme just stood there, staring down into the darkness, while small pieces of junk fell from the edge under her peds from all the pushing and moving her pursuers made behind.
'Is this really how it ends? Either being taken to pieces, or probably getting skewed up by some sharp pipes on the bottom of this damned hole?' She thought quietly, her hands clenching tightly while her mind formed a few not very kind words toward her unlucky fate.
From this situation, there was really no escape.
Not a helping bot in sight, no place she could squeeze through to evade the end... clearly, this wasn't a situation she thought she would lose her life in.
But with one thing, she could be sure that at least the part traffickers didn't win this time.
She took a deep breath, glancing down toward the deep pit before her, imagining that this hole was none other than an opening to the Well of Allspark, and while a few more pieces of junk fell again from the movements of the advancing bots behind her, she pushed herself over the edge and jumped into the darkness below, disappearing in the matter of seconds.
~~~~~~~~~
The first thing the femme felt was... pain.
Worse pain than anything she had ever felt before, stabbing into her every part without mercy, like she would have been hit by a speedster four-wheeler. At least a dozen times.
When she finally opened her optics, the nausea came immediately, with the darkness all around her making her helm spin and confuse her sense of direction completely, not feeling whether the surface she was lying on was the floor or the ceiling. She still forced herself to glance around, not lifting or even moving her helm in fear of any more injury.
As her vision became accustomed to the loss of light around her and she started seeing more and more of her surroundings, she noticed the dark silhouettes of bigger and smaller piles of trash all around, with rusted pieces of metal sticking out everywhere alongside discarded, dead bots. A small ray of dim light was the only light source above her, probably the opening of the hole she fell in, but from how faint this light was, the femme presumed it was already nighttime on the surface.
How long could she be unconscious?
The last thing she remembered was the jump, and after that... only a terrible, cracking sound.
With very slow and careful movements, the purple bot tried to move her hands, which were out of her sight, getting a low, rustling sound in response as her digits scraped across the ground, showing that at least she still had a connection with that limb. She continued with her other hand, getting a similar reaction, although this time, the movement caused her to wince in pain.
After this, she reached up to her helm, feeling along the back of her neck, touching each of her neckcables cautiously, and when she was finally sure that none of them had been punctured by the fall, she dared to lift her helm. Her processor throbbed from the pain, but she just continued looking her whole body over for injuries, checking each joint in complete silence. She didn't dare to hiss or give out any more noise, fearing that the previous bots might have followed her down here to gather her remains, or other garbage scavengers would take a liking to the barely alive femme's parts if they found her like this.
Scrapes and discolored, bent spots covered her chassis and her tank under all the dirt and rust, with some parts painted with light blue too from the deeper cuts along her plates, and from the wet feeling on her face, she was sure that it got similar marks too. But these were only minor injuries compared to her stabilizers.
Under her left knee joint, her ped was twisted out in an unnatural way, only connected to the upper part by the wires that were hidden beneath before, while the whole joint seemed distorted, the metal bent outward from the sheer force of the collision with the ground.
With shaking hands, the femme reached toward the limb, but quickly pulled away when horrible pain shot through her whole frame, and she had to slam her palm against her mouth to stop herself from screaming. After a few seconds of quietly listening around, making sure that nobody heard her, she let out a deep sigh, trying to calm herself.
With a ped like this, she had not much chance of going anywhere; so the most important thing now was to put the limb back into a working position.
The small bot looked around, her gaze bouncing from one side to another through the piles and piles of trash, searching for something that was possibly usable to secure her stabilizer, but outside of the already rusting metal pieces, glass shards, and every other type of rubbish, she couldn't see anything. She glanced back toward her ped, her clawed digits digging into her palms painfully, but then with a silent determination, she grasped the lower part of the limb, twisting it back to its place to realign the joint parts. She had to reach far to the side to be able to grab a severely mauled piece of cable, and after she put it right beside her leg, she grabbed a less rusted metal shard from the place she was lying on before, and placed it in her mouth, her dentas biting on it so hard that she heard a small creaking noise.
The femme stared at her ped for a moment, thinking which position would be the least painful and easiest to do, but then her servos acted without thinking, yanking the joint pieces back together with a loud crack, almost fully concealing her whimper that still escaped her dermas. She used the cable to secure her limb even tighter by wrapping it around the joint, not wanting it to cause any more problems, then slowly, trying to put as little weight as possible onto it, she crawled away from the open space, pressing her back against one of the trashpiles to blend in with her surroundings.
Her body trembled from the shock and pain, no matter how she tried to calm herself by curling up, trying to be as small as possible, and her vision repeatedly went dark from the lurking feeling of fainting.
She was low on Energon for too many days, and this, combined with the chase and her injuries, was too much for her body. The starvation made her weak, her sight blurry, and even her deformed little wings lowered tiredly while the femme hugged herself around to stop the shaking.
Maybe there really was no escape. Maybe she was destined to die alone in this Primus forbidden hole, not knowing where her Master or the other servants were, or if they were still alive. Maybe this is all she deserved in this life.
Her right hand brushed over her closed optics, smudging the tears that were ready to fall out, but as she looked down at her palm, her movements stopped, and even her trembling seemed to cease for a short second. The femme watched her hand in the dim light as her digits twitched slightly, the thin lines that crossed her palm, and her mind slowly wandered back to one of her earliest memories.
The dark orange and red sky above them, the whisper of the crowd, and the feeling of her Master’s touch as their digits connected, and he helped her up from the edge of the Well of Allspark.
Everything before that was the mix of dream-like feelings... but that moment was everything that helped her through the endless days of bland work, because since that very first day, she belonged only to him. There was no doubt in her about her position as a servant-class bot, no thoughts about a life without following him... and she was content with a life like this.
But her current situation felt like a devastating blow, worse pain than the one that still stabbed into her leg from time to time. She was alone.
Completely alone.
She couldn’t go back to the Council’s building, not since the whole planet went into lockdown, and chaos erupted even between the high-caste bots from the lack of energon. More and more cities fell into despair from the ever-growing number of residents, because even in their state, the Well didn’t stop producing new bots deep in the planet’s core. Most of the Council members’ servants were thrown out to the streets, making them leave the bigger cities and wander out to places where smaller energon deposits still existed deep under the surface... even the femme’s last meal came from some small, low-grade energon crystal that she had a chance to find in some rubbish.
So... the only thing she could do was march forward. Find the others. Find their Master. And never EVER separate from them again.
Her frame became steadier with each passing second as her consciousness slipped into a light recharge, waking her in every few minutes, but quickly letting her return to the darkness in her mind, coming as a merciful rest compared to the ruthlessness of reality.
But even this small rest couldn’t be without disturbance.
From the hole above her helm that she fell through, garbage started to pour down with a loud noise, making the femme jump up immediately, but with her injured limb cracking under her, she just stared at the falling objects, trying to stay out of their range. Countless broken datapads, metal and glass shards, engine parts, and things that looked like severed limbs fell down in front of her, creating a new pile in the sea of debris. The clashing, metallic sounds echoed through everything, making the femme’s antennas lower quickly as she winced, turning her gaze away from the new pile.
However, when the noise of the crashing quieted down, a speaking voice became audible from under the rubbish. It was crackling and damaged like an old recording, but the excited tone was enough to turn the femme’s curiosity back toward the rubbish.
Approaching a bit closer and tilting her helm to the side, her shaking hands swept off a couple of things from the top of the pile, letting them fall down to her peds. Pieces of old medical equipment scattered around from her doings, rusted and falling apart just as she touched them, but the voice underneath became more and more clear with each removed object, so she just kept going until her digits finally grabbed onto something more solid. It was no bigger than a datapad, but seemed more sturdy and heavier than those, with the scratchy voice coming from one side, filling the space around her with glitchy words as she eventually got it free.
“- it is clear that his opponent didn’t... a chance from the start, but our dear viewers, thi... match was still one of the bests today!” Said the voice in an elevated tone. “If we look... numbers, this newcomer dominated... his matches since joining the arena!”
The femme shook the small box, trying to get the voice to stop the static cracklings, but it only stopped for a second, returning to its earlier state quickly while it continued talking about statistics and the odds for betting on certain fighters.
“Well, it’s clear why they threw you down here...” She muttered to herself, sighing softly as she stared at the device for a long moment, her digits scraping across the edges of it gently to rub off some of the dirt from its surface.
Was she even more than this little cracked box, discarded at the first chance she is not useful?
She shook her helm, trying to get the idea out of her processor as fast as possible, but it stuck in her mind relentlessly, holding her thoughts hostage.
She always thought that she did a good job, or at least an honest job. Day after day, year after year, walking through Cybertron from one building site to another, delivering orders and gathering data to bring back to her Master, only for him to nod and continue with something else, sending her out for a new task immediately...
Was it because of her malfunction? Because she was a glitched bot without an alt-form, or even proper wings? Was this the reason he always avoided looking at her for more than a few seconds, or that he always kept his distance?
Her servos lowered slowly, while the words from the device only reached her mind in a muffled tone like she would have been underwater.
“-and to take a look at our newest gladiators too, it ...s like some of them are more promis... than the others!” Continued the match’s narrator, his voice echoing through the wasteland. “Appearing out of the nowh... with his hidden face, dark frame and extra limbs, this bot made quite a big ...ession in the arena since his first match! We all love him, we all fear him, here co... the one and only Soundwave!"
~~~~~~~~~
The femme couldn’t believe her own optics.
In the middle of the arena, surrounded by splashed Energon puddles and a collapsed opponent in front of him, her Master stood still, while cheering and whistling erupted all around from the viewers.
She just watched from her hidden corner behind the seats, peeking out between the excitedly jumping bots in the rows before her, only her digits moving as she involuntarily clawed at the wall, not taking her optics away from the sight in front of her.
It was him, there was no doubt. Same build, same color, same stance... the only difference was those cables that acted like extra limbs for the mech, and the dark visor that hid his usually gentle face. But she was completely sure that it was him.
And it only made things worse.
Why was he here? Why was he fighting in the Pits like the lowest class bots, killing others like it would be nothing? She couldn’t understand why a member of the High Council would do something like this. She couldn’t understand literally anything about this situation.
“Dear mechs and femmes!” Came the voice of the commentator from above the arena, only making the crowd below even louder. “Our matches for today ended with this great victory, but the fights will continue tomorrow with the usual schedule, starting with the non-lethal matches! Don’t forget to bet on your favorites, and good luck for next time!”
But Soundwave just continued standing there without giving any sign that he had heard any of the announcement.
His visor visibly focused on the body in front of him, his whole frame standing motionless like he would have been only a statue, then after a long moment, he turned around and left the ring, not giving any thought to the crowd above that still chanted his name.
Soon after, the hundreds of different bots started to get up and scatter from their seats, leaving the arena through the exits, but none of them seemed to mind about the femme that still stared at the empty place in the center where not long ago her Master stood.
Was it... her fault? Did he join the fights because of what she said?
There was only one way to know it for sure.
The femme pushed herself away from the wall, following the crowd to the outside of the arena where some smaller groups stopped, discussing the events of the matches, or handing each other small cubes of high-grades as payments over the bids, but rather than going further, she stayed next to the building, trying to ease the pain in her ped as much as possible.
Even if the arena was in a bit better-situated place in the Pits, she wasn't sure that nobody wouldn't try to take her to pieces again, so slowly, and by watching the still loitering bots around, she circled the building to find the Fighters' quarter, which was connected to the outside of the arena.
Above the entrance of the building, a couple of holographic signs glitched in and out; a few warnings to keep away the ones who shouldn't be there, the schedule of all the different kinds of matches, and the most interesting of all, a recruitment sign with a smaller description below to warn the possible volunteers about all the gruesome ways they can die in this dangerous work. On the left side of the doorway, leaning against the wall behind, a smaller, bit heavy-looking mech stood still, servos crossed before himself and only nodding from time to time towards the fighters who came and went through the entrance.
The femme watched him for a couple of minutes, deciding if she should try to sneak in or fight her way in, but then, considering her earlier injuries, she chose a somewhat more straightforward option.
She approached the mech, optics darting around while she started to fidget with her digits anxiously, her whole mannerism changing quickly to appear the least dangerous-looking bot she could muster up.
As the mech noticed her, his gaze looking her up and down while she took the remaining few steps closer to him, his posture grew tenser, crossed servos held flexed before his chassis to let her know that he could deny her entrance only with one word.
"What do you want?" He barked in her way shortly, a low, threatening growl following quickly after. "This place is only for the fighters."
"H-hi!" The femme answered, her tone soft, but her stuttering words filled with excitement. "I d-don't really know if I'm in the right place, b-but I'm looking for somebody. Can you help me, please?"
Surprised by the unusually sweet tone and polite response, the bigger bot stared at her for a second, but as she tilted her head to the side with a small, innocent smile, his processor seemed to freeze down for a second before answering.
"Of course, sweetspark." He said finally as he collected his composure, a flirty smile appearing on his face. "Who are you looking for? Maybe the mech of your life?"
The femme giggled at this, a faint blush coloring her cheeks before she looked away sheepishly, her digits twiddling without end.
"M-maybe a bit later..." She chuckled again, the blue blushing only spreading on her faceplate further. "Khm... D-do you know the mech who won the last fight? Y-you know... I'm... I'm a very big fan of his. I wanted to get his autograph earlier, but he sneaked away so quickly that I couldn't catch him."
She took a small step closer to the guard, her voice soft and almost purring as she placed her hand on his crossed servos.
"Would there be a chance that you could let me in?" She looked at him with wide-open puppy eyes. "The others would be soooo jealous if I could get his signature."
"He needs his rest after his fight, sorry darling." The mech responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe come back tomorrow, the fighters always train in the mornings."
With her little antennas lowering slightly, the femme's expression turned defeated at this answer.
"Oh, that's such a shame..." She muttered quietly.
"But..." The mech continued, his servo lifting to scratch the back of his helm before he looked around, wanting to see if there were others in their vicinity. "If you don't tell anyone, maybe... Maybe I can let you sneak in for a few minutes."
A shy smile crept upon the smaller bot's face from his words.
"Really? Oh, I would be so very grateful for that!"
"I hope so." The mech chuckled lightly, nodding toward the open door. "Go, but be quick because if the owner sees you, he will rip my helm off for letting you in... although, you don't seem strong enough to cause any problem. His room is the tenth door on the left corridor."
"Thank you so much!" The femme joyously jumped in her place. "Oh, the others will be absolutely furious if I show the autograph to them!"
"You can tell me all about it when you visit next time." Winking at her with a wide grin, the mech shoved her through the entrance. "Now go before I change my mind!"
The purple femme stumbled inside unsteadily, not expecting the push, then by quickly walking further into the dimly lit corridor with a light limp, the smile quickly disappeared from her face, like it was never even there before.
Her eyes darkened as she glanced at the filth-covered floor, older and newer drops of Energon sticking with every step from the gladiators' injuries, and the walls that were scratched all over, with nobody spending time to repair any of it. Compared even to the servants' quarters back in Iacon, this place was nothing more than a rusted dump for all the bots who came here just to die.
Silence pressed around her with only the muffled sound of other bots' laughing or arguing sneaking through the doors, and her quietly clicking peds' unusual rhythm, while the short minutes of her reaching the mentioned door felt like endless hours as her Spark started beating faster and faster, making her feel like it would want to jump out of her sparkchamber.
She had so many questions, so many things she needed answers to, answers only HE could give her, answers that would put an end to this foolish misunderstanding.
Because she still believed that it was just a misunderstanding. A big one, surely... but one that could be solved with a simple talk between them.
Stopping before the dark door, she hesitated for a moment. She swept off some dirt from her frame, forced her injured leg to stand straight, and only after she did these she dared to knock on the door.
Three light knocks, nothing more, nothing less, just as all the servants did it... But a minute passed, and there was no response.
So she tried again.
Three knocks, only this time she did it louder.
Still no response... but she tried once more.
And as the third knock hit the metal door, the entrance finally opened, and a very scratched-looking mech peeked his head out, his face hidden beneath a strange visor.
This time, the femme's joy was real.
"Master!" She bowed her helm down. "I have to-"
The door slammed close in front of her in an instant, shocking the small bot into a long moment of silence.
"Master?" She knocked again and again for minutes, always waiting a little bit for his response, but no noise came from behind the door, not even the slightest scratching or thumping.
So she decided to change tactics, and by leaning close to the door, she started to whisper, making sure that her voice was clear enough for him to hear through the thick metalplate.
"If you won't open this door..." She muttered quietly. "I'm going to tell everybody that you, one of the biggest new hits of the arena, are none other than the member of the High Council."
This threat ultimately caught the mech's attention, because after just a few seconds of delay, he opened the door once again; although this time, it was only far enough that he could peek through the opening, the visor hiding any of the possible emotions he could have expressed under it.
The femme stared at her own blurred reflection in the reflective, dark surface for a moment, imagining his cold gaze staring right back at her, but without backing down, she continued.
"I... I need to talk with you." She stated, her voice trembling for only a shard of time. "I will not force you to return to Iacon, or to do anything else... but you owe me an explanation after all that happened."
The faceless visor stared at her without the smallest movements for a second, then by opening the door further, the mech's servo reached out, grabbing her by the wrist and yanking her into the dark room, immediately closing it behind her and locking it before he took a step back away from her, like being this close to her would make him uncomfortable.
Inside, there was even less light than in the corridor.
Faint, almost unrecognizable shadows hid details of a simple room, with a berth and a desk inside, and with a few, seemingly low-grade energon cubes' dim light illuminating the table they stood on. But as new sources of small lights ignited in the darkness, the recognition hit the femme in the Spark hard and clear.
Other optics watched them through the darkness, optics that she already knew so well.
They were all there.
Laserbeak, their Master's right hand and most trusted servant sat on the bed, his small form almost completely disappearing next to the frame of Ravage, the only quadrupedal, feline-like bot who laid next to him, her predatory gaze steadily watching the newcomer while the minicon twins, Rumble and Frenzy, hid under the table, their usually bursting behavior nowhere to be seen.
"So... you are all here." The femme stated in a low voice, her fists clenching slowly as her digits dug deep into her palms. "And I thought that... I thought that something bad had happened with all of you."
As the quiet words left her intake, the small bot felt a flickering, hot pain in her Spark, a type of pain that was completely unfamiliar to her.
Of course, she felt light irritation if reports were late or when the magnetic train was out of schedule, but this felt totally different. Her vision became more focused, with her Energon thumping through her veins at a rapid rate, clawed digits digging so deep in her palms that she was injuring herself with it, all too similar to the feeling when she was chased... but this time, she felt more like the pursuer, not the pursuited.
None of them moved even an inch as she took a few steps forward, her quiet tone getting more and more frustrated with every uttered word as her voice filled the small room, demanding all of their attention.
"I've been looking for you for months. I walked across every city, every rust-filled hole, and asked hundreds of bots about your whereabouts. I was chased across the Pits, even had to jump into a hole to escape some part traffickers..." The purple femme winced in pain as her injured ped cracked under her weight, silent optics constantly following her every movement. "And you were here all along, playing gladiator, while the High Council fell apart from the quarantine of Cybertron."
"Femme, I think-" Started Ravage, her voice not louder than a whisper, but the femme immediately interrupted her.
"No. I want to hear it from him." She turned around, pointing at their Master with narrowed optics. "Why?" She asked, a thousand questions hiding in this one word. "Why, Master?"
Soundwave, who until now just stood still in the same place since he pulled in the smaller bot, slowly turned his helm to the side, trying to escape her dark red optics.
"Answer me, damn it!" She burst out suddenly, making all of the others flinch in response. "Did I do something bad? Was it because of what I said? Or something that I did?" She slowly approached the mech, getting so close that she could have touched him without fully extending her servo, while her whole body trembled with rage. "Or is it because I was forged with this... glitch?"
"Stop it!" Suddenly, the cat bot jumped between them, hissing in a threatening voice as she tried putting more space between the femme and their Master, fangs bared and claws extended, ready to slice through her body if needed.
"No." The femme answered without any emotion in her tone, only her digits twitching as her attention focused on Ravage. "You left me there. All alone. No message, no order, not even one word to say 'Yeah, we got bored, so we will jump into the arena to have some fun, and will never be back'." She stopped for a moment, but only to look straight at the mech's visor once again. "He took all of you with him... except me."
Soundwave still didn't respond to any of what the femme said, just kept his head tilted, watching the completely unusual behavior from his attendant like he would be watching some rare artifact, but this only made her Energon boil deep inside her body.
"So come on, tell me!" The smaller bot hissed, her voice dripping with anger as she mirrored him and tilted her helm to the side too. "Or am I not worthy to make the high and mighty Soundwave waste some words on me?"
Her clawed digits reached toward her chassis, scratching across it on top of her sparkchamber while her optics stared at him without blinking, her whole body burning with the pain that was consuming her, feeding off the unfamiliar, red emotions.
She wanted him to feel the same desperate fear that she had to, the same abandonment and hopelessness that ripped her Spark apart again and again each day she had to curl up by a wall to recharge, every time she felt she couldn't go further, and wanted to just break down in a corner to cry.
He deserved to feel the same. He deserved to feel all the pain and despair he caused.
"That was more than enough from you." Ravage growled at her in a low, ordering tone, lifting her head and straightening her stance to remind her of the difference between their ranks. "You came after us, demanding answers... but until now, you just threatened and yelled at him without knowing his reasoning."
"There is no good reason to abandon me like this!" The femme answered, but the catbot's interruption already made her lose track of her thoughts, only leaving hot tears dwell in her optics, blurring her vision too. "To... to let me fend for myself, all alone in a world I'm not familiar with..." She sniffed, completely losing her previous anger as she looked down, feeling embarrassed and humiliated.
Silence fell on the room once again, with only the femme's quiet sniffling making the smallest little noises, choking on her own tears.
It was not her. She was never filled with fury and hate, never feeling vindictive against the ones she belonged to... This was something entirely new, but she already knew that it was not a good feeling. It gnawed through her Spark like a hive of scraplets, leaving nothing but devastation and loneliness in its path, separating her from the only past she has ever known.
"He won't speak." After a few seconds, Ravage continued in a soft voice, a pain-filled expression slowly making her lower her helm."Or rather, he can't."
The small femme stared at the catbot with wide-open optics, being so shocked that she even stopped crying. She glanced toward their Master for a moment, then immediately back at the other servant.
"Ravage...?" She asked hesitantly, her voice so quiet that it was almost nothing more than a breath.
A low, resigned huff left the catbot's throat, and after a small flick of her tail to ease her nervous state, she continued.
"Soundwave..." Ravage glimpsed toward their Master, slowly shaking her helm like she wouldn't believe her own words. "He... he put down the Vow of Silence. He and Laserbeak too."
Stepping out from between the femme and Soundwave, the catbot started pacing the small room back and forth, nudging Laserbeak on the side when she passed next to the bed, only getting a small chirping in response before she turned back toward the femme.
"I only didn't do it because they needed someone to be their voice..." She sighed quietly, tilting her helm toward the minicons under the table. "And you know the twins, they wouldn't be able to not speak for too long."
"Hey, we can stay quiet!" Came the answer from the blue minicon, but his companion immediately slammed his hand on his mouth.
"You idiot, you ruined it again!" Shouted the purple one, though before they could continue arguing, Ravage leaned close, nudging both of them gently.
"Shh, quiet down, you two." She shushed them in a soft tone, then slowly turned her gaze back toward the femme. At this moment, she wasn't angry anymore... she seemed exhausted, with a strange sadness lingering in her optics that the purple bot couldn't put anywhere. "He may not be able to tell you the answers you seek... but if you let him explain in his own way, you can understand. Just quiet down, and let him try."
Slowly turning her helm toward Soundwave, the femme took a long moment to take a better look at the mech in front of her.
He still hasn't moved from his earlier place, but compared to his straight, fearless stance that let him stroll through the corridors of the High Council's building and made every servant bow their helm down in front of him, now he somehow looked... broken. Shoulders slumped down, helm tilted, his stance uneasy and tensed, completely stripped of every elegance he previously held.
"Master?" She whispered, but even this small noise made the silent mech flinch as if her voice would cause him physical pain.
He still forced himself to look at her, or at least to turn his visor toward her, and for a second, the darkness of the room felt more comforting than the question she blurted out a moment later.
"Is this... true?" She asked in a soft voice, and this time, Soundwave's helm moved slowly, nodding as an answer. "But... but why? I still can't understand..."
The seconds slowly passed while the mech stared back at her quietly, long enough to make her doubt that he would even answer in any possible way... Then slowly, like he wouldn't even trust in his own limbs, he stepped forward, staring down at the femme from under the dark visor.
First, a low cracking noise came from him, one just like from the radio she found earlier, while a faint light flashed across the reflective, dark surface of the visor, then quickly changing, familiar images started to appear, accompanied by similarly mortifying audios.
The image of burning spaceships, countless bots lying in their own spilled energon, faces distorted by a scream they could never finish, while several different voices prayed, shrieked, and cried for help, begging for mercy, and no matter how she tried, the femme couldn't take her optics away from these horrible pictures.
So much spilled Energon, rusted parts falling off of dying bots, without anyone to help, anybody to do something against these cruel fates...
"Stop... p-please, stop... it's... it's too much..." She begged quietly, her voice empty and shaking, but unlike those helpless cries, her prayers were answered as Soundwave made the images disappear, letting his visor darken once again.
He stared at his servant as she trembled with fear, antennas and wings lowered completely, then slowly, he lifted his servo, pointing at his own chassis, waiting for her reaction.
The femme gulped, trying to hold back her tears while the memory of the images still burned brightly inside her processor, and the pieces finally locked together, making her understand the whole picture.
'I can't get the screams out of my processor, no matter how I try...' He said it by himself that night... Maybe... maybe he meant that literally? Previously, her Master never showed fear or hesitancy, always going forward, undeterred by any setbacks that the Council experienced... But the memory of hundreds and thousands screaming for help could break even the most unwavering bots, creating heavy mental pressure.
"Was it... too much for you too?" She looked at the mech expectantly, and after a second of thinking, he nodded in response.
For the femme, Soundwave's presence was almost like Primus himself; somebody she should adore and follow without question... to think about him just like an ordinary bot, capable of just as many thoughts, dreams and fears like any of the middle and lower class workers, it felt odd... but in some way, some deep down hidden, misterious way, it felt comforting too.
With a slow move, she reached toward him, wanting to touch his digits that rested against his chassis, but in the last moment she pulled back, collecting herself quickly.
"Then... What's the plan?" She asked in a changed tone, like a soldier waiting to jump on the next task. "I bet staying here is not the end you want... then what is it?"
The mech turned his helm slightly, looking past her and rather at the other servants behind, like he would consider different ideas, different paths they could take, but it changed under a second as he suddenly shook his helm with more energy than anything else he had done until now, pointing at the femme, then at the door behind him.
The answer was clear. Leave.
Optics narrowing, the femme stared at her Master for long seconds without moving before she responded.
"You can't make me go." She said in a clear voice. "I've spent so much time finding you, I'm not going to just leave."
This answer seemingly angered Soundwave.
He shook his helm once again, while the mix of several, chaotic-sounding recordings came from him like he wouldn't be able to choose one to show his outrage, then with a swift move, he grabbed the femme's wrist, and by turning her around, he started pushing her towards the door, trying to kick her out by force, even while she struggled and pushed back against him.
"Stop it!" She yelled, her injured ped making her trip while she tried to keep herself steady, but the mech's strength was still too much for her to fight against. "You can't do this! You can't make me leave! I will... I'm going to stay with you!"
Maybe out of frustration for being too weak to fight back, or the emotional pain of being pushed away once again from the only ones she ever belonged to, something snapped inside the femme's processor. With her leg cracking under her painfully, she gained her footing, turned around with hands clenched in fists, and before she could stop herself, she punched the mech right in his face, making him stumble back with unsteady steps, while small glass shards from his visor scattered around on the ground.
The sound of cracking glass echoed in the femme's audios, and as she looked down at her shaking hands, sight blurring from her Spark's crazy thumping, her behavior changed immediately.
"M-master..." She muttered, her whole body trembling with fear while she took a step backward, sharp digits scratching against her chassis. "I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to, I just... It's just..."
But the mech stopped her with a single motion of his hand.
He gathered himself, standing back up straight after a moment of confused hesitancy, then by reaching up to his helm, he clicked off the visor from his face.
From the sight underneath, the femme's optics widened even more than before.
Her Master's face that had always reflected a calm, gentle, but still unyielding expression, now suffocated in an indescribable pain. His light blue optics, which before only glowed with a soft haze, now seemed dark and empty like the twilight sky above Iacon, and the dark grey circles under his eyes told the story of long sleep-deprived nights that he experienced.
He looked at her without any hope in his gaze, waiting for her, letting her judge... but he could've never guessed her next response.
"M-..." The femme started after a minute of silence, but immediately stopped, wanting to address him without the ranks that had separated them for so long. "Soundwave."
His designation tightened her voicebox, but it was enough to let her calm down before continuing.
"I was... forged to be your servant." She stated, lowering her helm and staring at her palm that held his hand so many cycles ago, then continued as she looked back at him, taking a step forward. "Since that day, I always felt like my place was right by your side, never questioning anything..." She gulped silently, a similar darkness glowing in her optics like in his, before she slowly shook her helm. "But you never ever gave me a name. I've been serving you for years, and you still haven't even given me a designation. So... I'm going to decide this all on my own."
The shadow of a shameful expression darkened the mech's features for a moment, but he only nodded as an answer to her words. He watched her cross the remaining distance between them, standing face to face with him without the smallest sign of fear or uncertainty.
"I... I want to stay by your side." She said finally, her words clear with determination while she reached for the mech's right hand, holding it in both of hers. "But not because I have to... it's because I WANT to. So please... give me the chance to do it out of my own will."
Looking back and forth between the femme's face and their connected hands, emotions changed on Soundwave's face faster than she could really understand any of them. Fear, rejection, hope, anger, they're all mixed together, but in the end, a so much softer one won over the others. His free hand moved, the tips of his digits grazing over her face while he lowered his own helm, lightly bumping his forehead against hers. A soft sigh escaped his frame, as if this small connection would be able to erase, or at least dampen the storming feelings inside him, and this made a small smile appear in the corner of the femme's dermas.
They stood there motionless for a minute, until finally a soft, broken whisper came out of her, not louder than the whirring of the gears in their bodies.
"I don't care how much time it will take..." The femme's words hung heavy in the darkness of the room while she leaned into his touch even more. "I'll stay by your side in this. I don't care about anything else. This is what I choose to do."
This moment... this fading second of calmness was something she had never experienced before. Like the whole world would've stood still for them, leaving it etched into their Sparks, making it part of who they were... like it would have been the moment she had lived for until now.
"Well, well... I never would've guessed that the two of you have this type of past together." Came the lightly mocking voice of someone from behind, which made the femme jump away immediately, looking at the cherry red medic with a furious gaze while he stood in the open doorframe, leaning against it leisurely.
"Shut up, Knockout!" She hissed angrily, but her expression quickly changed into confusion. "Wait a second... Knockout? What are you doing here? What...? What is this...?"
Darkwing slowly looked down at her hands, then at the others who stood motionless around the room, looking like puppets without anybody moving them. Optics lifeless, frames uncomfortably steady, not like any alive bot could ever muster up... and the realization hit her in a second.
"This... this is only a memory." She stated quietly, watching as the details of the room slowly melted into the walls.
"Apparently." Answered the medic with a small nod, letting her think.
"This is a memory. My own memory." She said, a quick anger taking over her features as she stormed toward the red mech, pointing at him threateningly. "Why are you in my processor? Who gave you permission to use cortical psychic patch on me?"
"Whoa, easy girl! I only came to help!" Knockout protectively lifted his servos before himself, but the femme was already too furious to stop.
"Help? HELP?" Darkwing's whole body shook with rage. "How is digging around in my mind going to help with anything?"
But the medic kept his cool, looking only somewhat guilty and tired.
"Look..." He started explaining, his servo moving to scratch the back of his helm nervously. "After what Starscream did, you..." At the mention of the name, the memory of the pain shot through Darkwing's body. "You lost a lot of Energon. You fell into a coma, and even after we stabilized your state, you still didn't wake up. Seemingly, your body preserved your consciousness in a place it could recover from the shock..." Knockout shook his helm slowly, looking around with curiosity. "Although I still can't understand why this exact memory is the one keeping you here. It's so... depressing."
The small seeker followed his gaze, finally seeing all of the details of the room that her memories didn't shown before, or her mind just didn't want to register. All the scratchmarks on the walls, the empty, broken energon cubes on the ground, and as she looked toward the place the fake Soundwave had stood not long ago, splashed blue energon drops covered the cold metal floor.
She could feel the sharp digits digging deep into her wings, the warmth of her own Energon as it dripped down on her shoulder and neckcables, and could hear the screeching and cracking noises as the metalplates tore under Starscream's touch... it all felt too realistic, all too painful to be true.
"Maybe because this is the place I first felt that I am more than just a mindless drone." She took a step away from the medic, her servos hugging around her own tank to stop herself from reaching up to the place her original wingplates were before. "Maybe... maybe because it feels safe. Comforting."
"Come on, kite!" The red mech responded quickly, grabbing her by her shoulder and turning her around to face him. "You can't stay here forever!"
With a fast move, the femme pushed away his servo, pain reflecting in her optics.
"Would it make any difference if I'm here or out there?" She asked in an elevated tone, helm lowering and fists clenching with dejection. "Starscream was right... I was only forged by mistake. I am nothing, and never will be more."
"And?" She heard the response from the mech, surprise making her lift her helm back up and look at him with tearful eyes.
"What do you mean 'and'? Isn't it enough?" She asked in back, her voice shaking with every word.
"What if you were forged by mistake? What if none of what we do really matters to the universe?" Knockout looked at her with an understanding expression, shrugging his shoulders. "I tell you what. It would still matter to us."
He lifted his open palm toward the femme, an encouraging smile brightening his face.
"You are not alone. We will solve this. We can." He said with such confidence that it warmed Darkwing's Spark and let her believe his words. "Just like we did before, and just like we will do again and again. Trust in me, Darkwing."
After a moment of thinking, the femme's hand moved. She reached toward the medic's hand, letting his digits wrap around hers softly, and as he pulled her closer for a hug, she couldn't help but rest her forehelm against his shoulder.
"I hate you, bootleg." She muttered quietly, only getting a soft chuckle as an answer.
"I love you too, kite." The medic tightened his hold around her frame. "Now let's wake you up before Breakdown trips over the cables and mixes up our personalities in the process."
Darkwing could only give a slight nod before the room around them started to darken, while wide cracks ran along all around the walls, making it hard for her to look at any of it. As she closed her optics, the rumbling noises seemed to quiet down, and when she next opened them, the incredibly blurry ceiling lights of the medbay became visible to her, with a blue figure appearing in her vision seconds later.
"Darky! Darky, can you hear me?" The agitated, deep voice of Breakdown made her wince while her helm throbbed with a familiar pain as the cortical patch's cable got separated from her helm, leaving behind an uncomfortable pressure in her processor.
"Y-yeah... loud and clear, big boy." She answered with a small grunt, reaching out to the big mech to pull herself up, but he was quicker with wrapping his servos around her frame.
"Thank Primus! I thought we really lost you this time..."
With a small, weak chuckle, Darwing patted the back of the mech's helm, still feeling quite nauseous and dizzy from the quick change of scenario around her.
"Were you worried about me?" She asked quietly, gently caressing the blue brute's shoulder, and the mech responded almost immediately.
"More than you know." He muttered, while from outside of their view, the impatient tapping of a ped became audible.
"Khm khm... Hello?" The cherry red medic stepped closer, servos crossed before himself, while a pretended annoyance made him grimace. "I'm sorry if I'm disturbing the big reunion, but I believe the doctor who risked his life to retrieve you from inside your tangled little mind would deserve some appreciation too?"
Exchanging a glance between themselves and giving a small nod of agreement, both Darkwing and Breakdown reached toward Knockout in the next second.
"Don't just stand there, come here, you idiot!" The femme said cheerfully, and after a short moment that consisted a theatrical huff and eyeroll from his side, the medic quickly joined them in the hug, squeezing both of them tightly.