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“Q-Query: Why di- ..d R-Rumble come looking-g for Soundwave? Rumble: Was g-given specific or- ..orders to s-s-s-stay at h-headquarters. Wait for -rr.. b- backup.” Soundwave could not help his irritation as he watched his cassette gnawing at his binds. He didn’t truly understand why he was so appalled by the mech’s behavior.
Rumble and Frenzy had always been rebellious to a degree. Not out of treachery and betrayal, like Starscream. Not an action of them testing their superiority. This was a different type of rebellion, naivety on its every mark.
Rumble had halted the chews to his metal binds, seeming to scan them with his optics. He either didn’t seem to notice or care on his master’s new voice module. “Course I came ta bust ya outta ‘ere. Now I gotta bust us both out.” He snorted at the cruel joke, before turning back to freeing himself.
“R-Rumble: Was t-told to s-s-s-stay at h-headquarters a- ..and wait for f-further instructions.” Soundwave asserted his orders.
“Yup.” His cassette only continued to bite.
“Rumble: Will be-e-e p-.. punished for not f-following orders.”
“Got it Boss.”
Soundwave scanned no uncertainty in his processor. No fear or discouragement to getting disbarred whatsoever.
“Once Rumble is r-..released from-m.. restraints, R-Rumble must r-..run.” After all, he wouldn’t be able to. The cassette player’s command was unfaltering and void of any semblance.
The cassetticon’s answer came out the same. “No.”
The binded mech’s visor flickered, wondering if his audials weren’t calibrating properly. “Query: N-No?”
“No. Cuz I’m get’n you out too.”
Soundwave felt his frustration boil. This was not the location nor the time to have a disagreement like this. Rumble could not be naive here, led by a cocky ego. The surrounding area was dropping in temperature like a dying thermometer. He could feel the freezing burns to his frame by every wind gust.
Suddenly a scream. Silent as the blizzard around them, loud as the frost sinking into their joints. A bond message, screaming into the cassette bot’s connection. Begging him to hear.
“You are going to offline here if you stay.”
Silence reined, though his companion’s determination in their bond didn’t falter. It never seemed to falter. A metal click suddenly filled their imprisonment, followed with a spit.
“I know.”
Rumble approached his master, joints creaking from the ice as he started on Soundwave’s binds. The communication officer couldn’t even look at the cassette. He couldn’t fathom the idea of one dying for him.
“R-Rumble, r-r-..run. I b-beg you, you must r-r-r-run. I can’t h-have you die h-here with me, p-..please.” It was a whisper, a pleading echo of a last resort. His voice was no longer monotonous.
“Not till I get you out Boss.” The small mech grumbled out through clenched denta, his plating coated in sleet as it shivered.
Soundwave’s vocoder glitched with angry static, a never ending buzz that shook his entire frame. It was cruelly ironic, how it reminded him of the seeker responsible for this. Starscream had always been a traitor, but never did the cassette deck ponder he’d go this far. A past fate similar to that one large mech frozen in ice they uncovered. Jet something.
Only he was awake through it all. Bound with energon restraints, frost taking over his frame. Instead of binds his leg circuits were cut, making him void of escape. And because the traitorous bird found it amusing, his vocoder had been fragged. Just to add a little irony to it all. His communications were down and he was isolated. Until he powered on to see Rumble beside him in binds.
Now they would both be destroyed, frozen in time. He was sure his other cassette bots would be next. He could do nothing more now than accept his fate. Accept both of their fates. It was getting difficult to sit up any longer. The numbness in his legs causing them to freeze faster.
“Q-quEry: ..W-whY? W y s-sacrifice..f .. S-Sound.d ..W a v ..?”
Rumble stopped his chewing, or at least the cassette deck assumed so. The noises stopped. “..R-really Boss? Y’ question that, really?”
When there wasn’t a response from his master, the small bot continued through shudders. “Do y’ n-not remember Boss? ..Soundwave, you saved my life r-remember? Me an’ Frenzy, ya got us both outta ‘a ring. We’d probably be o-offline or still ‘n at’ c-cage if it weren’t f’ you.”
“A-an’ Ravage, Lasa, Buzz, Batty. They’d all be offline, h-hunted f’ sport or in prison if it weren’t f’ you take’n them in. Y’ saw p-potential in us no other m-mech did. Despite anywhere we came from or a-any history we had, y’ took care of us. An’ still c-continue t’ take care of us. ..Even when me an Frenzy can be lil afthats.”
He was halfway through the second restraint. “S-Soundwave, there’s a reason yer our l-lead’a. It’s not just how smart an’ inten’ful and c-cunn’n y’ are. ..Y’ keep us all togeth’a. W-we aren’t a-afraid of ya, none of us. W-we c-chose t’ follow ya.”
“I-I don’ have t’ s-stay with ya. B-but I want to. I choose to an’ I a-always will. Even if it’s me drag’n ya by my bare denta. ..Y-you’d do t’ same.”
Naive, now Soundwave had the conclusion. It wasn’t out of confidence, idiotic bravery, spite or stupidity. It was naivety through loyalty. It was the blind determination to always bring their master back home. Bring his master back home, even if it drained his entire life source.
“…Af- f rm … t v e .”
Frag, his vocoder was getting worse. The second restraint snapped through a pair of iron jaws. Rumble spat it to the ground, standing in front of the communication officer with shaky legs. “So, y-y’ g-get’n up, or do y-you need a p-pull?”
The cassette player attempted to stand, to no avail whatsoever. His legs were immobilized, lost alongside his voice box, leaving him unable to move on his own.
Luckily, he wasn’t alone. A piece of himself stood right by his side, hearing his every thought. His fear, his parental worry and most importantly, his gratitude. His strained vocoder didn’t need to speak another word. The broken mech only lifted a servo, feeling it clamped in the strong yet comforting grip of Rumble’s jaws.
He felt no uncertainty from his cassette’s bond. No fear or regret to be seen. Just determination and a strong will to get them home. The earth’s unrelenting cold stung his frame, melted into his joints. Yet he still felt warmth from his companion present and those far away.
Those far away were responding to their leader’s call. A command he knew that would not be ignored. His numb frame slid through the snow, visor flickering as it barely caught Rumble’s pede prints in the white drift. The sharp sting to his servo, the cold burns to his frame, the scratchiness of his vocoder. None of it mattered to him, as if he couldn’t feel it.
All he could feel was warmth. The warmth of the mechs he had given a second chance. Powering on his optics, Soundwave could see them. Blurs of familiar colors and concern reaching out to his bond. Rumble’s trudge had stopped as warmth, and questions, oh so many questions, completely engulfed the cassette player’s frame and processor.
Yet he knew the answer to one. Just one out of dozens of others in the flood of concerned mechs. “Th- …n k.. y ..”
He felt himself be dragged once more, a steady grip of talons or denta on each one of his limbs. The beloved leader powered down his optics. Home. They would be home soon, their sparks strong and well. None of them would ever be unloved or left behind. Not even him. Nor would this deed go unpunished.
If his cassettes ever wanted to return the favor for saving their sparks. Especially involving ripping apart a certain seeker’s frame. Perhaps now Soundwave would ponder on letting them.