Reformat
Title: Reformat
Author: missmary
Rating: PG 13/T for violence
Verse: pre 2007, AU, but meshes TF:A, G1 and a bunch of different concepts I've absorbed through fanon
Genre: hurt, suspense
Disclaimer: I wish they were mine but Hasbro got there first
Warnings: hacking, implied sex
Characters: Soundwave, First Aid, Glit
Summary: In the aftermath of a devastating battle,Soundwave takes First Aid. Why? One shot
Read here or on
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9061657/1/Reformat
Reformat
“Hook, help me out here.”
The Constructicon blew air through his vents. This was the third guard to ask. “What the Pit is he doing that’s got your gears grinding, Mixmaster? “ The engineer turned reluctant medic stood in the washracks getting clean of all the energon splashed on him as he worked over the wounded.
“Keening. He won’t stop.“He hadn’t heard Mixmaster that rattled since the last time they were the target of one of Megatron’s tantrums.
Scavenger contacted him first, sounding shaken. Hook cut him off before he said anything. “If he isn’t bleeding out, don’t bother me,” he said bluntly, wrist deep in Scrapper. Then Long Haul called. He’d never heard his brother that antsy, but Hook was still working and cut him off.
Mixmaster didn’t spook easy. “So? Go in and give him a few dents.” Hook turned off the washrack.
“Soundwave passed the word that anyone who gave him a dent would regret it. Told us the brat better still have his seals too. Even cleaned him up and left him a cube. So far as I can see, kid ain’t even looked at it. Here, listen.” He let Hook listen in.
Hook heard less pain in mechs getting their inner gears put back together. “All right, I’m coming.” Something in those keens reached into the spark and squeezed. He couldn’t blame his brothers, because both of them knew that could have been one of them, left with those empty bonds aching. He thought back to the battle. It started as just another raid to get energon.
What Megatron ordered as a distraction cost them. Oh, they got the energon they were after. Hook thought morbidly that at least it would last longer, with ten less of them. By Unicron, this battle turned into the worst he’d seen in vorns. Maybe it would have ended up different if Devastator stepped in, but Scrapper stepped out where that pit-spawned Autobot sniper Bluestreak could see him and that took both Scavenger and Devastator out in the first hour.
Bruticus knocked a bus or something with humans on it off the road and went to smash it. Defensor dove in to stop him, and they were fighting it out when Menasor decided to step in. Defensor got in one solid punch that busted Bruticus into his component parts, just as Menasor finished blowing out the supports of the huge building beside them.
When the building hit Defensor, he broke apart too, which threw most of the Protectobots out of the way before it came down on the Combaticons. Ignoring the plight of his fellow Decepticons, Menasor bore down on the four closest Protectobots. Hot Spot covered over the cycle and the helicopter who were trying to drag their ambulance brother from between two walls. No one else stood near them, Autobot or Decepticon, and their only hope lay in reforming Defensor.
Mensor took them down with swift and gleeful brutality. Hook remembered watching him shove at the fallen building where the unconscious ambulance sprawled, throwing the broken bodies of the others out of his way. The energon-thirsty fool focused on getting to the ambulance so hard that he totally missed Superion and the Autobots coming at him. Wild with rage and grief, Superion landed on top of Menasor and by the time the dust settled, no Stuntacon still possessed a spark.
Having gotten the energon they needed, the rest of the Decepticons turned to push their foes away from the fallen building. The Autobots went, taking the bodies of their deactivated with them, but when the unwounded Constructicons dug out what was left of the Combaticons, they found the little medic survived.
Hook went to Medbay and snagged a mild sedative. Between the battle, lack of fuel, and the keening, it shouldn’t take much to put the brat out. As he headed for the brig, he wondered just what Soundwave wanted with First Aid.
As he approached the brig, he discovered fewer Decepticons around the closer he got. Of course, the keening got louder, too. He almost ran the last bit, desperate to end that spark-breaking noise. He reached the cell to find Soundwave and Megatron standing outside the bars. “Lord Megatron,” he said, bowing while trying to decide just how he was going to get Mixmaster back for not warning him.
“Sedate prisoner,” Soundwave ordered in his deadpan way. Megatron snapped an order to Mixmaster, who dropped the barrier. Hook knelt down by the grieving medic. First Aid lay curled into a tight ball, failing to register the presence of anyone else in the brig. Hook pulled at the closest arm, then leg, and found them locked tight. He rolled the medic and found he could pull a limb out, only to snap back to its original position. Soundwave knelt and helped position the medic, who never so much as on-lined his optics. “Use half,” Soundwave instructed, as the medic continued to keen.
Hook did as instructed and retreated. The keening slowed and then stopped. Soundwave pulled First Aid up, supporting him by a tight grip on his arms when his legs wobbled. Optics on-lined, bright blue shining as the prisoner’s gaze traveled up the bulk of Megatron’s body and stopped, fixed on something other than the Decepticon leader’s face.
Megatron looked down at Soundwave and First Aid. Red and white stood out against the dark blue of Soundwave, highlighting how small the Protectobot stood compared to both of them. Light reflected off drying tracks on First Aid’s face. More disturbing, the medic’s face held hope. Hook looked at his leader, who frowned and glanced at his deadpan Communications Officer. Then the Constructicon followed First Aid’s look, and realized that hopeful gaze lay on Megatron’s arm cannon.
“Send me to my brothers,” First Aid said, his vocalizer hoarse. Hook and Mixmaster exchanged astonished looks, and Hook wondered if the medic’s processor glitched.
Megatron gave a harsh bark of laughter. “They’ve gone to the Well, Autobot. If you don’t wish to join them, you will tell me what I need to know. Soundwave will tell me if you lie. “
“I’ll tell you everything I know if you’ll send me to join my brothers,” the medic said, his gaze flicking from Megatron’s face to his cannon again, and this time Hook understood. So did Megatron.
“If you tell me anything worth knowing, I will grant your request,” he said. Hook wasn’t sure, but he thought he detected a minute change in Soundwave’s expression. Megatron sent him a glance, and Soundwave’s face smoothed. Then his gaze went to the Constructicons.
Go, came the commed order. They bowed and obeyed. Hook, will need rest of sedative when done. Will contact.
Hook grimaced. Poor naïve kid, thinking he had a bargain. It wouldn’t matter if he gave them the key to the security gates; nothing he said would be “worth knowing”.
On their way out, Mixmaster said, “What do you think Soundwave wants with him?” Without any kind of discussion, their steps turned toward the rec room, where they drew their ration of energon and found a corner. Normally the rec room jumped after a successful raid, but today mechs drew their ration and left.
“Don’t know. He’s not going to be good for anything. As soon as he figures out Megatron’s not going to shoot him, he’ll find a way to deactivate unless they put him on some kind of suicide watch and force feed him. Even that probably won’t work, not with all the others gone. “Mixmaster only nodded. They’d seen it before, when a Seeker lost two of his trine. If they didn’t find a way to die in battle or pick a fatal fight, they pined away, and how much worse would the sparkbreak be with a gestalt? They contemplated their cubes, sipping at times.
With the cubes finally emptied, Mixmaster dragged himself to his feet. “Need to find Scavenger and tell him what’s going on,” he said. Hook got up and left as well, going to the med bay to check on his patients. There was plenty to do until he was called again.
The summons came. As he approached the brig, he heard First Aid’s voice, full of static from overuse, “But I have to join my brothers, they’re calling me, they need me, please, Lord Megatron, I told you everything!” Megatron did not deign to respond, only striding away. Hook moved to the wall to let him pass before going in to the choked raspy pleas of the Protectobot to join his brothers in the Well of Sparks.
When First Aid saw Hook pull the syringe from his subspace, he fought, using every ploy Hook ever encountered. Considering that the medic came off a battle in stasis, keened non-stop for hours, and just withstood a lengthy interrogation, he amazed Hook with how long he managed to struggle until the Constructicon and Soundwave got the sedative in him.
Once in him, the sedative hit fast and hard and he went from screaming to sobbing to recharge within minutes. At that point, Soundwave reached for the cube that still stood against the wall. “Administer,” he commanded, and Hook pulled tubing out of his subspace and obeyed. “Tell brothers. None of you saw him.” He indicated the limp chassis against his knees. Hook nodded. “Dismissed.” With that, Soundwave picked up the prisoner and left.
Hook walked back to his quarters, his gaze on the floor and his shoulders slumped. Those passing him gave him a glance and left him alone. He went to his brothers one by one, Mixmaster first, to pass the message. Finally in his berth, he stared at the ceiling and wondered again what Soundwave wanted with the little medic.
Kid’ll find a way to get to the Well on his own fast enough, he decided. Medics know death too intimately not to find a way to get there. Even if Soundwave managed to keep First Aid fueled and his chassis intact, the Protectobot’s spark would ebb away gradually. He’d seen it too many times at the beginning of the war, with the Seekers who lost both their trine mates and sometimes with spark mates. Soundwave might delay the inevitable, but he couldn’t stop it.
It had been a long time since Hook felt pity for anyone, but he pitied that Protectobot from the bottom of his spark, and sent a prayer to a Primus he didn’t believe in that the same never happened to him.
TRTR
Mirage slid into the utility corridor and vented. Jazz told him to find out what happened to First Aid. Even if what happened turned out to be a note in the system stating that something First Aid’s size went through the smelter. At least they would know, mourn, and move on.
The death of the four Protectobots stabbed at the spark, but at least they went out fighting, and took two vicious gestalts with them. Given a choice, he knew all of them would take the same honorable death again. No, what left the Autobots sick and worried were the whispers of First Aid held prisoner on the Nemesis. Superion remembered seeing all the Protectobots together, all still and unmoving, but they only found four bodies before they were driven back. They went back and searched afterwards, but found nothing.
But when Mirage ghosted through the Nemesis, he heard whispers that Soundwave held a captive in his quarters. The rumors did not say who it was, but Mirage overheard Hook muttering something about the impossibility of keeping a lone gestalt member alive. After that, he had to know. So here he stood, within range of that monster Soundwave’s telepathy, straining to hear anything that would tell him what was going on.
He heard footsteps, and high voices. “I just hope he stays quiet until the boss gets in. You know, if he’s relaxed enough, maybe we can get him to give us a polish. “Mirage moved, sliding close to the door, and slipping in behind Frenzy and Ravage and followed them into a good-sized room with a large berth. The two cassettes trotted up and looked at some kind of monitor before climbing on the berth to examine its occupant. Mirage fought to keep his ventilations steady as he saw a red and white mech on the berth, with his arms bound to his sides and his legs to each other. Something was attached to his chest, over his spark chamber. “In recharge and monitor steady,” Ravage said. “Come on, let’s get in a game while we can.” They trotted out.
Mirage approached the berth once they left. As he approached, he saw that the bindings were soft mesh, not the rougher material he expected. The mech lay in the exact center of the bed, and he could see that the bindings themselves attached to the berth. At the same time he knew he’d seen the machine before, but he didn’t have time to figure it out. The mech turned and looked straight at him. First Aid opened his blue visored optics and stirred in the bindings looking around as well as he could.
Mirage commed, “What’s going on, Aid?” urgently.
First Aid stilled. Then he started shifting, moving deliberately. “ Hot Spot, I’m sorry it’s taking me so long,” he said softly. His vocalizer hiccupped. “I hear you calling me, pulling at me, but they watch me so close.” He shifted in the binding mesh, trying to loosen it. Light flashed against metal in his hand. “Give me a little time, I think I’ve found a way to join you.”
Mirage felt cold gush through his lines. What was wrong with First Aid? “What are you doing?”
“I just need to get this in one of my lines. That should work, but it might take a bit. Ask Street, he was in the med bay that time when Hound needed a flush once. “Mirage remembered that day. Hound drank some contaminated energon and the particles gathered in his fuel pump.
Footsteps pattered closer and Mirage backed against the wall as a high voice said, “Primus on a pogo stick, he’s coming out of it, we better -What did you get this time? Grab it, Rumble, the boss’ll take away the console for a week if he manages to cut another line!” The two cassettes converged on the bound mech.
Another line? Mirage felt his tank churn.
“Got it, got it! “ Rumble snatched at the metal and threw it across the room.
“No,” First Aid whimpered, and started sobbing. “Why can’t you let me go? My brothers are calling me, I heard them!”
“Pits, don’t start that again,” Rumble wailed, but First Aid ignored him, pleading instead with his brothers to forgive him for not joining them and for not dying with them.
“So much for getting a polish,” Frenzy grumbled. “Laserbeak got lucky last time, the birdbrain. He won’t settle down ‘til the boss can straighten him out again. “
“He’s coming,” Rumble said suddenly, and Mirage carefully slid closer to the door. But this time luck did not favor him, for Soundwave came in and the door closed before he reached it. “Good timing, boss, he just went over the edge again.”
“Go,” Soundwave ordered, and they scampered off. Then they slipped back, hiding behind some of the storage containers to watch. Mirage cursed his luck and turned his attention to the berth.
At the sight of Soundwave, First Aid went quiet, and the only sound in the room came from his hitching vents. Mirage watched as the Decepticon Communications officer stood at the end of the bed and reached underneath the mattress. Something clicked, and First Aid rocked back and forth. Before he could build up momentum, Soundwave moved onto the berth and unwrapped the restrains, pinning down his captive as First Aid erupted into frantic movement. Soundwave settled himself comfortably , effectively pinning the little medic to the berth with his bulk. This time both of them stilled for a long moment.
The cassettes whined and left their hiding places to stomp out of the door. “First Aid, needs contact, needs comfort,” Soundwave murmured. “Soundwave offers.”
What? Soundwave, the cold, the emotionless, offering -what was he offering?
First Aid only nodded. Soundwave shifted and slipped his fingers into his captive’s joints, massaging. When First Aid lay fully relaxed under him, Soundwave proceeded to tenderly and thoroughly frag his captive.
Mirage watched, emotions warring thought him. At first he was shocked that First Aid consented. Rumor in the Ark said First Aid’s seals remained unbroken, and the thought of the little medic’s only experience being a Decepticon made him sick, though Soundwave treated him with a great deal of care and ensure that the little medic overloaded before he took his own pleasure. The other shock consisted of seeing the emotionless Soundwave frag anyone.
Then he realized he was seeing a golden opportunity, and slid his dagger out. One quick stab, and he could grab First Aid and get them out of the Nemesis. Clearly Soundwave was off duty, and almost no one knew the little medic was here. He could get them out before the alarm raised. He looked up to see if any ventilation ducts existed, as he could not cover First Aid as well as himself.
There was one. It was occupied. It seemed that Rumble and Frenzy were not the only cassettes that liked to watch. Ravage watched from above. No, he wasn’t watching, the spy realized. The panther cassette acted as a guard. When the activity from the berth stilled, Ravage left, and took with him Mirage’s opportunity.
“It’s not enough,” First Aid said in a tired voice. “No matter what you do, it’s not enough. Why are you keeping me here, Soundwave?”
Soundwave stroked the medic’s cheek. “No need to waste a valuable resource,” he replied.
“I’m useless to anyone. Even when you bring me back, I hurt. All I can feel are those empty bonds. I can’t work, I can’t function. “ His vocalizer spat static.
“Soundwave will forge new bonds soon. “ The Decepticon pulled two cubes from subspace and moved, keeping a firm grip on his captive as he maneuvered upright and pulled First Aid into his lap. He drank his own cube first, then put the second to the medic’s intake. “Drink.” First Aid turned his head. Soundwave vented and pulled out tubing. “Outcome inevitable. Easier to drink. “ This time when he offered, First Aid opened his intake and allowed Soundwave to feed him the fuel. He placed a chain around his captive’s waist and looped wrist restraints around them before added chains to his ankles that would allow him to hobble. “Come. Need washracks.”
This time Mirage managed to get out of the door before it shut behind them.
Mirage made his report and waited. “You did well,” Jazz said. “I agree, you didn’t stand a chance of getting Aid out of there, not with him on a suicide watch.”
“What did he mean by new bonds?” Prowl asked. “What did he do to First Aid?”
“That was obvious,” Jazz said dryly.
“He pulled him out of the psychosis,” Ratchet said shortly. Jazz gave him a disbelieving look. “If Aid was in my med bay, I’d be doing just what Soundwave is. I’d keep him sedated, on suicide watch and restrained. I’d keep a spark monitor on him, to warn me when he’s crashing. If there was someone he trusted enough to frag, I’d let them. It gives the gestalt member a feeling of connection, which is what he misses the most. Given time, he could come out of the insanity. Soundwave, being a telepath, can bring him out of it for a time, before the pain and loss drives him back into insanity. “
“But why?” Prowl asked.
Ratchet got up from the table and paced. “The Decepticons need a medic,” he said slowly, “but Aid is right, I can’t see Megatron putting their scare resources on the belief that Soundwave can bring Aid out of it permanently and then hope they can keep hold of him. And I can’t think what he means by new bonds.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not good,” Prowl said decisively. “We need to get him out. I’ll speak to Optimus as soon as I have a strategy. “ He paused. “Blaster just asked to speak to us. Go ahead, Blaster.”
“I just heard from Hound,” Blaster said urgently. “He noticed the space bridge firing up, and he got there just in time to see Soundwave go through carrying First Aid.”
TRTR
First Aid on-lined his optics and looked around. He could not figure out where he was; the ceiling looked different from Soundwave’s quarters, the Decepticon brig, or the Ark. He tried to look around, and he could not move. His brothers were with him. He couldn’t see them, but he heard them, heard their support, telling him to be strong and he would joint them soon. He didn’t know any important information. That’s why he answered all Megatron’s questions, because the answer to most of them was either, “I don’t know, “ or public information, with Soundwave there to confirm he wasn’t lying.
Then a purple mech with one eye came into view. “Uplink ready,” Shockwave said. “Prepare for transfer of files.” He looked down at First Aid. “You will advance science, Autobot. Be grateful that you serve Cybertron in spite of your useless faction. “
First Aid considered, drawing from his memories of Blade’s colorful vocabulary, and gave his opinion of Shockwave, his version of science, and the Decepticons in general. When he stopped, he knew Blades applauding his performance. “And you need a new paint job,” he added. “That purple is just plain ugly.” That made Streetwise and Groove laugh.
“Upload begins,” Shockwave said, and First Aid screamed at the invasion. Some endless time later, the pain stopped. He heaved for cool air, his head throbbing with the lingering pain. Somewhere in his mind Hot Spot whispered comfort as Shockwave loomed over him. No one ever survived Shockwave. He’d be with them soon. Darkness fell.
Standing beside a cassette body, still grey, Soundwave watched as Shockwave put First Aid in stasis before setting up an energon drip. “Prepare to transfer spark,” he stated. “Uploaded desired files?”
“Done,” Soundwave said.
When the transfer was done, they both stood over the cassette form, waiting. Optics on-lined, a warm gold instead of red. “Come,” Soundwave said, and opened his chest. Without hesitation, the cassette head cleaner folded up and went in.
TRTR
Blaster raced over the battlefield where Steeljaw lay, a small Decepticon leaning over him. “That should do it, Autobot,” he heard.
“Get away from him, you-“
“No, boss, he’s helping!” Blaster stopped as he noted the bandage on Steeljaw’s leg. “Thanks-I don’t know you.”
“Glit,” said the blue Ravage-shaped cassette with the packs loaded over his hips. No, Blaster thought as he got closer, that’s not a cassette, that’s a cassette head-cleaner. That must be Soundwave’s new one. He watched as Glit loped away, heading for a wounded Decepticon groaning not far away. Blaster scooped up his cassette and raced him away.
“Good work,” Ratchet said grudgingly as he examined the dressing. He took it off and started work. “That one’s helped a few others. Wonder where Soundwave found him.”
Blaster hesitated for a moment. “You know, when Elita-One and the others on Cybertron found First Aid’s body, they said he’d been hacked. Think there’s a connection?”
They stared at each other. Then Ratchet got to work on Steeljaw’s leg, and they never mentioned the matter again.
When Mirage returned to the Ark after his next mission on the Nemesis, he reported that the new cassette head cleaner got drunk on Energon wine and sang whenever he got the chance. “He seems sad a lot,” he concluded, “but all the Decepticons like him, since he’s a better medic that Hook ever thought of being. “
He noticed Blaster and Ratchet exchange quick looks and then avoid each other’s gaze, and wondered why.
A/N
If you were to ask me where the devil this plot bunny came from, I can only say that I read about Glit and the plot bunny promptly sank its teeth into my oversized rear end and would not let go until I wrote this. And yes, I know this is not at all cannon
Author: missmary
Rating: PG 13/T for violence
Verse: pre 2007, AU, but meshes TF:A, G1 and a bunch of different concepts I've absorbed through fanon
Genre: hurt, suspense
Disclaimer: I wish they were mine but Hasbro got there first
Warnings: hacking, implied sex
Characters: Soundwave, First Aid, Glit
Summary: In the aftermath of a devastating battle,Soundwave takes First Aid. Why? One shot
Read here or on
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9061657/1/Reformat
Reformat
“Hook, help me out here.”
The Constructicon blew air through his vents. This was the third guard to ask. “What the Pit is he doing that’s got your gears grinding, Mixmaster? “ The engineer turned reluctant medic stood in the washracks getting clean of all the energon splashed on him as he worked over the wounded.
“Keening. He won’t stop.“He hadn’t heard Mixmaster that rattled since the last time they were the target of one of Megatron’s tantrums.
Scavenger contacted him first, sounding shaken. Hook cut him off before he said anything. “If he isn’t bleeding out, don’t bother me,” he said bluntly, wrist deep in Scrapper. Then Long Haul called. He’d never heard his brother that antsy, but Hook was still working and cut him off.
Mixmaster didn’t spook easy. “So? Go in and give him a few dents.” Hook turned off the washrack.
“Soundwave passed the word that anyone who gave him a dent would regret it. Told us the brat better still have his seals too. Even cleaned him up and left him a cube. So far as I can see, kid ain’t even looked at it. Here, listen.” He let Hook listen in.
Hook heard less pain in mechs getting their inner gears put back together. “All right, I’m coming.” Something in those keens reached into the spark and squeezed. He couldn’t blame his brothers, because both of them knew that could have been one of them, left with those empty bonds aching. He thought back to the battle. It started as just another raid to get energon.
What Megatron ordered as a distraction cost them. Oh, they got the energon they were after. Hook thought morbidly that at least it would last longer, with ten less of them. By Unicron, this battle turned into the worst he’d seen in vorns. Maybe it would have ended up different if Devastator stepped in, but Scrapper stepped out where that pit-spawned Autobot sniper Bluestreak could see him and that took both Scavenger and Devastator out in the first hour.
Bruticus knocked a bus or something with humans on it off the road and went to smash it. Defensor dove in to stop him, and they were fighting it out when Menasor decided to step in. Defensor got in one solid punch that busted Bruticus into his component parts, just as Menasor finished blowing out the supports of the huge building beside them.
When the building hit Defensor, he broke apart too, which threw most of the Protectobots out of the way before it came down on the Combaticons. Ignoring the plight of his fellow Decepticons, Menasor bore down on the four closest Protectobots. Hot Spot covered over the cycle and the helicopter who were trying to drag their ambulance brother from between two walls. No one else stood near them, Autobot or Decepticon, and their only hope lay in reforming Defensor.
Mensor took them down with swift and gleeful brutality. Hook remembered watching him shove at the fallen building where the unconscious ambulance sprawled, throwing the broken bodies of the others out of his way. The energon-thirsty fool focused on getting to the ambulance so hard that he totally missed Superion and the Autobots coming at him. Wild with rage and grief, Superion landed on top of Menasor and by the time the dust settled, no Stuntacon still possessed a spark.
Having gotten the energon they needed, the rest of the Decepticons turned to push their foes away from the fallen building. The Autobots went, taking the bodies of their deactivated with them, but when the unwounded Constructicons dug out what was left of the Combaticons, they found the little medic survived.
Hook went to Medbay and snagged a mild sedative. Between the battle, lack of fuel, and the keening, it shouldn’t take much to put the brat out. As he headed for the brig, he wondered just what Soundwave wanted with First Aid.
As he approached the brig, he discovered fewer Decepticons around the closer he got. Of course, the keening got louder, too. He almost ran the last bit, desperate to end that spark-breaking noise. He reached the cell to find Soundwave and Megatron standing outside the bars. “Lord Megatron,” he said, bowing while trying to decide just how he was going to get Mixmaster back for not warning him.
“Sedate prisoner,” Soundwave ordered in his deadpan way. Megatron snapped an order to Mixmaster, who dropped the barrier. Hook knelt down by the grieving medic. First Aid lay curled into a tight ball, failing to register the presence of anyone else in the brig. Hook pulled at the closest arm, then leg, and found them locked tight. He rolled the medic and found he could pull a limb out, only to snap back to its original position. Soundwave knelt and helped position the medic, who never so much as on-lined his optics. “Use half,” Soundwave instructed, as the medic continued to keen.
Hook did as instructed and retreated. The keening slowed and then stopped. Soundwave pulled First Aid up, supporting him by a tight grip on his arms when his legs wobbled. Optics on-lined, bright blue shining as the prisoner’s gaze traveled up the bulk of Megatron’s body and stopped, fixed on something other than the Decepticon leader’s face.
Megatron looked down at Soundwave and First Aid. Red and white stood out against the dark blue of Soundwave, highlighting how small the Protectobot stood compared to both of them. Light reflected off drying tracks on First Aid’s face. More disturbing, the medic’s face held hope. Hook looked at his leader, who frowned and glanced at his deadpan Communications Officer. Then the Constructicon followed First Aid’s look, and realized that hopeful gaze lay on Megatron’s arm cannon.
“Send me to my brothers,” First Aid said, his vocalizer hoarse. Hook and Mixmaster exchanged astonished looks, and Hook wondered if the medic’s processor glitched.
Megatron gave a harsh bark of laughter. “They’ve gone to the Well, Autobot. If you don’t wish to join them, you will tell me what I need to know. Soundwave will tell me if you lie. “
“I’ll tell you everything I know if you’ll send me to join my brothers,” the medic said, his gaze flicking from Megatron’s face to his cannon again, and this time Hook understood. So did Megatron.
“If you tell me anything worth knowing, I will grant your request,” he said. Hook wasn’t sure, but he thought he detected a minute change in Soundwave’s expression. Megatron sent him a glance, and Soundwave’s face smoothed. Then his gaze went to the Constructicons.
Go, came the commed order. They bowed and obeyed. Hook, will need rest of sedative when done. Will contact.
Hook grimaced. Poor naïve kid, thinking he had a bargain. It wouldn’t matter if he gave them the key to the security gates; nothing he said would be “worth knowing”.
On their way out, Mixmaster said, “What do you think Soundwave wants with him?” Without any kind of discussion, their steps turned toward the rec room, where they drew their ration of energon and found a corner. Normally the rec room jumped after a successful raid, but today mechs drew their ration and left.
“Don’t know. He’s not going to be good for anything. As soon as he figures out Megatron’s not going to shoot him, he’ll find a way to deactivate unless they put him on some kind of suicide watch and force feed him. Even that probably won’t work, not with all the others gone. “Mixmaster only nodded. They’d seen it before, when a Seeker lost two of his trine. If they didn’t find a way to die in battle or pick a fatal fight, they pined away, and how much worse would the sparkbreak be with a gestalt? They contemplated their cubes, sipping at times.
With the cubes finally emptied, Mixmaster dragged himself to his feet. “Need to find Scavenger and tell him what’s going on,” he said. Hook got up and left as well, going to the med bay to check on his patients. There was plenty to do until he was called again.
The summons came. As he approached the brig, he heard First Aid’s voice, full of static from overuse, “But I have to join my brothers, they’re calling me, they need me, please, Lord Megatron, I told you everything!” Megatron did not deign to respond, only striding away. Hook moved to the wall to let him pass before going in to the choked raspy pleas of the Protectobot to join his brothers in the Well of Sparks.
When First Aid saw Hook pull the syringe from his subspace, he fought, using every ploy Hook ever encountered. Considering that the medic came off a battle in stasis, keened non-stop for hours, and just withstood a lengthy interrogation, he amazed Hook with how long he managed to struggle until the Constructicon and Soundwave got the sedative in him.
Once in him, the sedative hit fast and hard and he went from screaming to sobbing to recharge within minutes. At that point, Soundwave reached for the cube that still stood against the wall. “Administer,” he commanded, and Hook pulled tubing out of his subspace and obeyed. “Tell brothers. None of you saw him.” He indicated the limp chassis against his knees. Hook nodded. “Dismissed.” With that, Soundwave picked up the prisoner and left.
Hook walked back to his quarters, his gaze on the floor and his shoulders slumped. Those passing him gave him a glance and left him alone. He went to his brothers one by one, Mixmaster first, to pass the message. Finally in his berth, he stared at the ceiling and wondered again what Soundwave wanted with the little medic.
Kid’ll find a way to get to the Well on his own fast enough, he decided. Medics know death too intimately not to find a way to get there. Even if Soundwave managed to keep First Aid fueled and his chassis intact, the Protectobot’s spark would ebb away gradually. He’d seen it too many times at the beginning of the war, with the Seekers who lost both their trine mates and sometimes with spark mates. Soundwave might delay the inevitable, but he couldn’t stop it.
It had been a long time since Hook felt pity for anyone, but he pitied that Protectobot from the bottom of his spark, and sent a prayer to a Primus he didn’t believe in that the same never happened to him.
TRTR
Mirage slid into the utility corridor and vented. Jazz told him to find out what happened to First Aid. Even if what happened turned out to be a note in the system stating that something First Aid’s size went through the smelter. At least they would know, mourn, and move on.
The death of the four Protectobots stabbed at the spark, but at least they went out fighting, and took two vicious gestalts with them. Given a choice, he knew all of them would take the same honorable death again. No, what left the Autobots sick and worried were the whispers of First Aid held prisoner on the Nemesis. Superion remembered seeing all the Protectobots together, all still and unmoving, but they only found four bodies before they were driven back. They went back and searched afterwards, but found nothing.
But when Mirage ghosted through the Nemesis, he heard whispers that Soundwave held a captive in his quarters. The rumors did not say who it was, but Mirage overheard Hook muttering something about the impossibility of keeping a lone gestalt member alive. After that, he had to know. So here he stood, within range of that monster Soundwave’s telepathy, straining to hear anything that would tell him what was going on.
He heard footsteps, and high voices. “I just hope he stays quiet until the boss gets in. You know, if he’s relaxed enough, maybe we can get him to give us a polish. “Mirage moved, sliding close to the door, and slipping in behind Frenzy and Ravage and followed them into a good-sized room with a large berth. The two cassettes trotted up and looked at some kind of monitor before climbing on the berth to examine its occupant. Mirage fought to keep his ventilations steady as he saw a red and white mech on the berth, with his arms bound to his sides and his legs to each other. Something was attached to his chest, over his spark chamber. “In recharge and monitor steady,” Ravage said. “Come on, let’s get in a game while we can.” They trotted out.
Mirage approached the berth once they left. As he approached, he saw that the bindings were soft mesh, not the rougher material he expected. The mech lay in the exact center of the bed, and he could see that the bindings themselves attached to the berth. At the same time he knew he’d seen the machine before, but he didn’t have time to figure it out. The mech turned and looked straight at him. First Aid opened his blue visored optics and stirred in the bindings looking around as well as he could.
Mirage commed, “What’s going on, Aid?” urgently.
First Aid stilled. Then he started shifting, moving deliberately. “ Hot Spot, I’m sorry it’s taking me so long,” he said softly. His vocalizer hiccupped. “I hear you calling me, pulling at me, but they watch me so close.” He shifted in the binding mesh, trying to loosen it. Light flashed against metal in his hand. “Give me a little time, I think I’ve found a way to join you.”
Mirage felt cold gush through his lines. What was wrong with First Aid? “What are you doing?”
“I just need to get this in one of my lines. That should work, but it might take a bit. Ask Street, he was in the med bay that time when Hound needed a flush once. “Mirage remembered that day. Hound drank some contaminated energon and the particles gathered in his fuel pump.
Footsteps pattered closer and Mirage backed against the wall as a high voice said, “Primus on a pogo stick, he’s coming out of it, we better -What did you get this time? Grab it, Rumble, the boss’ll take away the console for a week if he manages to cut another line!” The two cassettes converged on the bound mech.
Another line? Mirage felt his tank churn.
“Got it, got it! “ Rumble snatched at the metal and threw it across the room.
“No,” First Aid whimpered, and started sobbing. “Why can’t you let me go? My brothers are calling me, I heard them!”
“Pits, don’t start that again,” Rumble wailed, but First Aid ignored him, pleading instead with his brothers to forgive him for not joining them and for not dying with them.
“So much for getting a polish,” Frenzy grumbled. “Laserbeak got lucky last time, the birdbrain. He won’t settle down ‘til the boss can straighten him out again. “
“He’s coming,” Rumble said suddenly, and Mirage carefully slid closer to the door. But this time luck did not favor him, for Soundwave came in and the door closed before he reached it. “Good timing, boss, he just went over the edge again.”
“Go,” Soundwave ordered, and they scampered off. Then they slipped back, hiding behind some of the storage containers to watch. Mirage cursed his luck and turned his attention to the berth.
At the sight of Soundwave, First Aid went quiet, and the only sound in the room came from his hitching vents. Mirage watched as the Decepticon Communications officer stood at the end of the bed and reached underneath the mattress. Something clicked, and First Aid rocked back and forth. Before he could build up momentum, Soundwave moved onto the berth and unwrapped the restrains, pinning down his captive as First Aid erupted into frantic movement. Soundwave settled himself comfortably , effectively pinning the little medic to the berth with his bulk. This time both of them stilled for a long moment.
The cassettes whined and left their hiding places to stomp out of the door. “First Aid, needs contact, needs comfort,” Soundwave murmured. “Soundwave offers.”
What? Soundwave, the cold, the emotionless, offering -what was he offering?
First Aid only nodded. Soundwave shifted and slipped his fingers into his captive’s joints, massaging. When First Aid lay fully relaxed under him, Soundwave proceeded to tenderly and thoroughly frag his captive.
Mirage watched, emotions warring thought him. At first he was shocked that First Aid consented. Rumor in the Ark said First Aid’s seals remained unbroken, and the thought of the little medic’s only experience being a Decepticon made him sick, though Soundwave treated him with a great deal of care and ensure that the little medic overloaded before he took his own pleasure. The other shock consisted of seeing the emotionless Soundwave frag anyone.
Then he realized he was seeing a golden opportunity, and slid his dagger out. One quick stab, and he could grab First Aid and get them out of the Nemesis. Clearly Soundwave was off duty, and almost no one knew the little medic was here. He could get them out before the alarm raised. He looked up to see if any ventilation ducts existed, as he could not cover First Aid as well as himself.
There was one. It was occupied. It seemed that Rumble and Frenzy were not the only cassettes that liked to watch. Ravage watched from above. No, he wasn’t watching, the spy realized. The panther cassette acted as a guard. When the activity from the berth stilled, Ravage left, and took with him Mirage’s opportunity.
“It’s not enough,” First Aid said in a tired voice. “No matter what you do, it’s not enough. Why are you keeping me here, Soundwave?”
Soundwave stroked the medic’s cheek. “No need to waste a valuable resource,” he replied.
“I’m useless to anyone. Even when you bring me back, I hurt. All I can feel are those empty bonds. I can’t work, I can’t function. “ His vocalizer spat static.
“Soundwave will forge new bonds soon. “ The Decepticon pulled two cubes from subspace and moved, keeping a firm grip on his captive as he maneuvered upright and pulled First Aid into his lap. He drank his own cube first, then put the second to the medic’s intake. “Drink.” First Aid turned his head. Soundwave vented and pulled out tubing. “Outcome inevitable. Easier to drink. “ This time when he offered, First Aid opened his intake and allowed Soundwave to feed him the fuel. He placed a chain around his captive’s waist and looped wrist restraints around them before added chains to his ankles that would allow him to hobble. “Come. Need washracks.”
This time Mirage managed to get out of the door before it shut behind them.
Mirage made his report and waited. “You did well,” Jazz said. “I agree, you didn’t stand a chance of getting Aid out of there, not with him on a suicide watch.”
“What did he mean by new bonds?” Prowl asked. “What did he do to First Aid?”
“That was obvious,” Jazz said dryly.
“He pulled him out of the psychosis,” Ratchet said shortly. Jazz gave him a disbelieving look. “If Aid was in my med bay, I’d be doing just what Soundwave is. I’d keep him sedated, on suicide watch and restrained. I’d keep a spark monitor on him, to warn me when he’s crashing. If there was someone he trusted enough to frag, I’d let them. It gives the gestalt member a feeling of connection, which is what he misses the most. Given time, he could come out of the insanity. Soundwave, being a telepath, can bring him out of it for a time, before the pain and loss drives him back into insanity. “
“But why?” Prowl asked.
Ratchet got up from the table and paced. “The Decepticons need a medic,” he said slowly, “but Aid is right, I can’t see Megatron putting their scare resources on the belief that Soundwave can bring Aid out of it permanently and then hope they can keep hold of him. And I can’t think what he means by new bonds.”
“Whatever it is, it’s not good,” Prowl said decisively. “We need to get him out. I’ll speak to Optimus as soon as I have a strategy. “ He paused. “Blaster just asked to speak to us. Go ahead, Blaster.”
“I just heard from Hound,” Blaster said urgently. “He noticed the space bridge firing up, and he got there just in time to see Soundwave go through carrying First Aid.”
TRTR
First Aid on-lined his optics and looked around. He could not figure out where he was; the ceiling looked different from Soundwave’s quarters, the Decepticon brig, or the Ark. He tried to look around, and he could not move. His brothers were with him. He couldn’t see them, but he heard them, heard their support, telling him to be strong and he would joint them soon. He didn’t know any important information. That’s why he answered all Megatron’s questions, because the answer to most of them was either, “I don’t know, “ or public information, with Soundwave there to confirm he wasn’t lying.
Then a purple mech with one eye came into view. “Uplink ready,” Shockwave said. “Prepare for transfer of files.” He looked down at First Aid. “You will advance science, Autobot. Be grateful that you serve Cybertron in spite of your useless faction. “
First Aid considered, drawing from his memories of Blade’s colorful vocabulary, and gave his opinion of Shockwave, his version of science, and the Decepticons in general. When he stopped, he knew Blades applauding his performance. “And you need a new paint job,” he added. “That purple is just plain ugly.” That made Streetwise and Groove laugh.
“Upload begins,” Shockwave said, and First Aid screamed at the invasion. Some endless time later, the pain stopped. He heaved for cool air, his head throbbing with the lingering pain. Somewhere in his mind Hot Spot whispered comfort as Shockwave loomed over him. No one ever survived Shockwave. He’d be with them soon. Darkness fell.
Standing beside a cassette body, still grey, Soundwave watched as Shockwave put First Aid in stasis before setting up an energon drip. “Prepare to transfer spark,” he stated. “Uploaded desired files?”
“Done,” Soundwave said.
When the transfer was done, they both stood over the cassette form, waiting. Optics on-lined, a warm gold instead of red. “Come,” Soundwave said, and opened his chest. Without hesitation, the cassette head cleaner folded up and went in.
TRTR
Blaster raced over the battlefield where Steeljaw lay, a small Decepticon leaning over him. “That should do it, Autobot,” he heard.
“Get away from him, you-“
“No, boss, he’s helping!” Blaster stopped as he noted the bandage on Steeljaw’s leg. “Thanks-I don’t know you.”
“Glit,” said the blue Ravage-shaped cassette with the packs loaded over his hips. No, Blaster thought as he got closer, that’s not a cassette, that’s a cassette head-cleaner. That must be Soundwave’s new one. He watched as Glit loped away, heading for a wounded Decepticon groaning not far away. Blaster scooped up his cassette and raced him away.
“Good work,” Ratchet said grudgingly as he examined the dressing. He took it off and started work. “That one’s helped a few others. Wonder where Soundwave found him.”
Blaster hesitated for a moment. “You know, when Elita-One and the others on Cybertron found First Aid’s body, they said he’d been hacked. Think there’s a connection?”
They stared at each other. Then Ratchet got to work on Steeljaw’s leg, and they never mentioned the matter again.
When Mirage returned to the Ark after his next mission on the Nemesis, he reported that the new cassette head cleaner got drunk on Energon wine and sang whenever he got the chance. “He seems sad a lot,” he concluded, “but all the Decepticons like him, since he’s a better medic that Hook ever thought of being. “
He noticed Blaster and Ratchet exchange quick looks and then avoid each other’s gaze, and wondered why.
A/N
If you were to ask me where the devil this plot bunny came from, I can only say that I read about Glit and the plot bunny promptly sank its teeth into my oversized rear end and would not let go until I wrote this. And yes, I know this is not at all cannon