BLURB
"We knew this was gonna happen..
"Maybe it's not a bad thing!"
"The bots were looking for him for a while!"
"Yeah, they were looking!"
"It might not be a bad thing!"
"Maybe it's for the best, boss..!"
They had all heard the alarms. Once the klaxons had blared, they had known what it had meant; they had known what the Autobots were after. They had both hoped, in fact, that the Autobots were successful. They had both whispered to each other about it, about the prisoner hopefully being gone; still, the elation had only lasted for a moment, knowing that their boss would not be the least bit happy about what they would fine.
Perhaps that was why Soundwave's silence was so surprising.
As it was, the ordinarily stoic blue Decepticon was staring at the empty berth with a sort of empty gaze that was thoroughly alarming. He was not known to show emotion; to be this open, to show the helplessness so clearly, it was really rather frightening.
"Boss..?"
"We weren't gonna get away with it forever."
"Yeah, I mean.. The bots were looking."
Soundwave didn't respond. Rumble and Frenzy shared a concerned glance.
For a long moment more, there was silence. The twin cassettes took the lack of response with silence of their own; the nervousness was shared. This was bound to go badly.
For a long time, nothing happened.
Nothing happened for so long, in fact, that when Soundwave finally did move, it caused both twins to jolt in shock. Two large steps were taken closer to the berth; a blue hand set itself on the edge of the furniture. Then, a red visor fixated itself on the loose, empty chain and the vacant pillow.
Frenzy turned to his brother, mouth opening and closing in a rare moment of stupefaction; movement from the corner of his vision caused him to turn. A similarly subdued set of Laserbeak and Ravage stood by the door. Rumble turned as well before sharing letting himself boggle; neither of them knew when their siblings had arrived.
Then, it was back to looking to their boss. Worry fluttered in their tanks; the silence was deafening.
"Carerra: Gone."
For the first time in their lives, neither Rumble nor Frenzy knew what to say. They shared another glance, optics wide; the formers' dentals clenched, the latter's jaw hung.
"Yes. Yes, he is." That came from Ravage, words slow and cautious. The four-legged recordicon padded over with a seeming hesitance, moving with an awkwardness that neither twin could ever recall seeing before; he stopped only a short distance away from Soundwave. "Carerra is gone."
A moment of silence fell again; it passed what felt like far too many minutes later.
"Unfortunate." Soundwave let out what sounded like a sigh. "Acceptance: Near completion. Reshaping: Had begun."
"..Reshaping?" Frenzy asked dumbly, jaw still hanging.
Rumble rubbed his face with a hand. "Boss.."
"Unfortunate." Soundwave repeated again; then, he stepped back from the berth, giving a slightly, almost nonexistent shake of his head as he did. Without another word, he turned and left their shared quarters.
The four cassettes stayed where they were, looking after their boss in stunned silence.