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The lab was silent of any voices, only the dull hum and occasional beeps of equipment fast at work interrupted Shockwave’s sanctum of science. He always did prefer his place of work this way, finding a sense of noticeable relief within him at the prospect of being able to work peacefully again without Knockout’s rather…Illogical choices of music interrupting him.
A pitched beep sounded from across the lab as Shockwave shuffled over to see how his systems reboot was coming along as the rather dated equipment came back online one piece at a time. Painstaking, time consuming work, but a welcome and rather elementary task to Shockwave who was rather eager to get back to his processing of more Synth-En and perhaps his favored Project Predacon if he could find a copy or two of a Predacon’s CNA code or even a fossil laying around, if he was lucky. If he was not, he would set out and find more, mentally placing that task on his orderly list within his mind, not quite first, but definitely not last.
“Good. Sector one of the lab is back online, just as planned…” Shockwave stated out loud, already sensing himself getting back into his habit of dictating notes as he had when back on Cybertron, prior to joining Megatron’s crew on the Nemesis. With the press of a few more buttons that gave rise to another whirr of mechanical life he continued, “Sector two of the lab is now beginning a reboot. Next, reboot Sector three and…”
Shockwave pondered for a moment, looking at the dreary, dark desolate state of a corner of the lab, knowing that quadrant four was hopelessly outdated and that half of the equipment looked fit for scrapping, some damaged as if shot at during whatever violent conflict had caused such a sudden evacuation of the isolated site. “Then reboot Sector five. Skip Sector four, scour for parts. It would be illogical to attempt to reboot or fix instruments in such a state.”
His glowing red eye turned swiftly from the corner of the lab back to where the tool that had beeped was, but something caught his eye. A faint glimmer of light was emitting from a high powered microscope in the corner. Strange…I have not rebooted or touched anything from that sector…Shockwave strode over to the microscope only to find something even stranger.
“This microscope was shot by a laser cannon which struck and damaged its battery…there should be no reason that this light is on. Illogical…” Shockwave’s head shot up as another flicker came into his vision from the corner of his optic, then another…and another, until he was basking in the glowing array of yellows, reds, blues, and purples of all of the lab’s lights being on at once.
The uneasy sensation of being watched overcame him as he lifted his left arm to aim around the room where all of the lights had clicked on one by one, hyperflux cannon at the ready.
He would not be caught unawares. Not today.
As quickly as they turned on, upon his defensive act they all shut off with an unparalleled quickness leaving him in complete darkness.
“Show yourself, intruder.” He stated in a slightly more demanding tone than his usual monotonous one. The green light of a computer’s screen lit up across the room, drawing his attention as he lowered his cannon, walking towards it. The screen was on and remained blank, however the glowing keypad flashed once as if beckoning for his attention. Slowly letters started to flash, stitching together a word:
‘T-r-a-p-p-e-d’
“‘Trapped’? Who am I currently communicating with now?”
The keyboard flashed another series of letters as a realization struck Shockwave.
‘S-o-u-n-d-’
“-wave?” He finished, a lighter tone interrupted his normally stoic voice before it changed back quicker than he even noticed it was there. “How can I tell that this is Soundwave and not a trick?”
A flickered reply on the keyboard once again: ‘Who else could find a way to communicate across a dimension?’
A pause passed before Shockwave nodded, “...Logical.” A foreign feeling of…what was that strange thing? Contentment? No… Comfort…crossed the large dark mech as he shifted his weight to his side, fully lowering his cannon as he talked back to his old acquaintance. “I did not see you during the fall of Megatron, when the Nemesis came under Autobot control.” Another fleeting feeling passed him which caused his remaining servo to clench tight, unconsciously. “What did they do to you?”
‘Two groundbridges on either side of me did something. I am trapped in a mirror dimension. Unable to generate groundbridges of my own now.’
The mental cogs within Shockwave’s brain module began turning as if at the speed of light, trying to calculate what theory or law of science could have caused this. None that he knew of…not yet, but soon.
The dull glow of the computer’s screen began to brighten into a cluster lights which formed a familiar shape. It was Soundwave’s thin servos, as if pressed against the screen itself, waiting to be released from his phantom-like state. Shockwave looked a moment at the screen before he realized his own servo had placed itself over the glow of Soundwave’s own. Not sure what had come over himself, he withdrew his servo and offered something better: a promise.
“I will find out how to retrieve you from that dimension, Soundwave….I will, and soon.”
Soundwave’s reply flashed slowly out after a moment of silence between them:
‘Thank you’
-
The cycles shifted past his grasp much quicker than he was used to, but it mattered not as Shockwave labored away in his new lab, driven towards a singular goal amidst the chaos of the last few solar cycles and the fall of the cause he had worked for during many millennia. It was a welcome distraction to the new situation he found himself in and provided a hope unlike the last time he was stranded on Cybertron: he would not be alone if he accomplished his task.
Despite his great progress, the scientist began to feel a sense of urgency as he knew Soundwave could only last so long without new energon in this mystery dimension which apparently had none that Soundwave could use. He was so close now, just days away from finding a way for Soundwave to return if he did not find it sooner…he just needed Soundwave to hold on just a bit longer.
Today was another one spent in the lab as Shockwave had started to get used to his certain routine: trial, error, research, repeat, with the occasional break to recharge. Even if Soundwave was not with him in the lab, physically in his own dimension, Shockwave had grown used to his company in the form of typed conversation and replies that brought Shockwave back to the earlier days when he had first met Soundwave, an unusually intriguing mech and formidable gladiator alongside Megatron. It had been such a long time since he felt this way that he wasn’t sure he remembered the word for it…not that it mattered to Shockwave as identifying this feeling did not serve any logical purpose.
“Initiating test sequence version 284…Anything Soundwave?” Shockwave pressed a few buttons upon the console as a ground bridge appeared before him in the lab. He then looked to the screen where, as if on cue, text was typed onto the screen.
Nothing.
“Hm…” After another tweak upon the ground bridge’s settings, Shockwave's digit hovered over a button once more only to stop at the last minute, “I wonder…”
Taking back his servo, he drew up another round of settings for a separate ground bridge as he decided to test a different theory, a rather unorthodox one he came up with after Soundwave described how he was caught in the dimension, but one nonetheless.
“Initiating test sequence version 285.”
When Shockwave pressed the button this time, two ground bridges opened, their yawning green swirls akin to miniature galaxies as Shockwave studied them in anticipation, noticing that Soundwave had not replied this time. “Soundwave? Come in, Soundwave.”
The monitor remained blank.
No. No it couldn’t be, he couldn’t be too late…Shockwave knew that Soundwave was running low on Energon, but he did not think it was so dangerously low that he could have deactivated. That was not possible. He tried once more: “Soundwave? Is everything well?”
Another lack of reply had Shockwave beginning to feel a rare moment of despair creep into him as he felt truly alone once more. No. He repeated himself mentally as he did the next most logical thing: He began to type a message on the monitor as he wondered if perhaps Soundwave could not hear him as the dull whirl of the groundbridges continued on behind him.
A metallic thunk of Cybertronian metal hit the ground behind him which caused a start from Shockwave as he turned around only to find Soundwave laying on the ground on his side, back to him as the groundbridges closed with a last whirl and dissipated into the air with a slight crackle of energy.
“Soundwave?” Shockwave asked once more as he walked over to the mech who was still laying on the ground and had not moved, leaning down to a kneel beside him.
With a slight motion he turned Soundwave onto his back and was greeted by the welcome sight of a blinking light from his screen, cracked, but still functional. Soundwave moved an arm weakly over to the side of Shockwave’s own head although his gesture was largely ignored as Shockwave was much more interested in feeling around Soundwave with his remaining servo to make sure he was not injured elsewhere.
“Other than your screen, you do seem to be in one piece. Is there anything else that you need-?”
Shockwave was cut off by an action from Soundwave as he had drifted his thin servo over to the front of Shockwave’s optic, slender digits tracing across his red light which cast a warm hue onto the normally cold and stoic mech.
In usual Soundwave fashion he did not use words of his own, instead repeating a recording of Shockwave’s previous words: “Need…you.”
Shockwave was still for a moment as he let Soundwave gaze at him, digits still running along the metal planes around his optic as if tracing every inch of him to remember for later. After a pause which seemed to be fully dedicated to processing this message from Soundwave, Shockwave shook his head, taking Soundwave’s servo from his helm and bringing it back down to Soundwave’s own chest, giving it a slight pat as he rested it there.
“Illogical…You must simply be not functioning at full capacity after such a shortage of Energon. Allow me.” Shockwave bent down further, hoisting the gangly mech into his arms with ease before setting him down upon a rather rusted operation table within the lab, turning to get an energon injection device. Grabbing a unit of the life-giving substance, Shockwave clicked the apparatus into the device checking to see if it indeed worked before he felt a light tap upon his shoulder.
“Soundwave, you cannot be standing…ah.” Turning and expecting to see Soundwave standing behind him, Shockwave was instead greeted with a long black and purple glowing tentacle of Soundwave’s which had tapped him to get his attention and had extended from where Soundwave lay on the table. “Is everything satisfactory?”
Soundwave’s tentacle retreated as he voiced out a reply using the recordings of various Cybertronians who he had no doubt recorded through the cycles as Shockwave took a few steps over to him. Attaching the energon injection securely to Soundwave’s side, Shockwave listened to the message:
“Do you think-?“ The smug voice of Knockout greeted him first.
“-That I lie!?” Starcream’s shrill objection finished off the message from Soundwave as Shockwave felt his audial fins twitch in confusion at this situation.
“Never, Soundwave. Although I do suppose, as I have said previously, that a lack of energon can cause certain systems such as that of the brain module to malfunction resulting in unreasonable reactions to certain stimuli-”
“Pfft, yeah right! ” Breakdown’s gruff scoff cut him off as Soundwave continued his conversation via recordings, his glowing screen visualizing the soundwaves of his recordings with a dancing purple hue. “I am most certain of my actions.” The confident, but raspy tone of Megatron at last met Shockwave who lowered his head, not quite where to take this.
“Let your energon have a chance to replenish before you do anything more, Soundwave. Conserve your energy.” Shockwave laid a servo on Soundwave’s arm as he walked to the other section of the lab and began typing notes of his experiment that had occurred. He would ask Soundwave more about this other dimension, but for now he figured he should rest as he fueled up further.
There was a few minutes of silence, only intermittently broken by the clicks of Shockwave’s keyboard before the sound of static echoed across the room, this voice was unfamiliar to Shockwave, but sounded similar to that of one of the various decepticon vehicons that roamed the Nemesis.
“It’s over.”
Although Shockwave had a hint at what Soundwave might have meant he probed further, “What, pray tell, is over?”
“The cause.- He is dead- after all.” Soundwave went quiet again as he finished his stitched together sentence. Shockwave tapped the digits of his remaining servo upon the desk before turning from his task back to Soundwave. He choose his next words rather carefully:
“The Decepticon cause was led by Megatron, however such a cause which has impacted so many statistically cannot ‘die’ within such a short amount of time simply due to the death of its leader. Others will continue on the Decepticon cause…however successfully or unsuccessfully remains to be seen. I have theorized a power vacuum to occur within the coming cycles and so far, from the limited contacts I have scanned from across the galaxy, it seems my theory has already started to be proven correct.”
“Do you think any of them have - a chance?”
“A few of them are in my sights as contenders, even fewer of them truly support the cause so much as they want power, but none of them measure up to Megatron. In any realm.” Shockwave answered truthfully, returning to Soundwave’s side as he took the Energon injection device from Soundwave and set it aside. A crackle of static sounded from Soundwave, which Shockwave recognized as frustration, as he leaned up from the table and stood, walking over to the computer and began typing away. Shockwave saw coordinates and a star map appear upon the screen.
“Do you plan to follow one of them? Lead perhaps?”
This time an answer did not come to Shockwave as Soundwave stopped his task momentarily, screened helm turning to the side as he seemed to ponder an answer before deciding against any reply. Soundwave’s servo reached out, the coordinates reflecting from the monitor onto his screen as a groundbridge lit before him, its energy whirring to life. This was all Shockwave needed to see as he realized Soundwave’s intentions to leave, no doubt to join up with, or even lead, a rogue Decepticon faction, continuing his dedication to the cause. Turning back to his desk, Shockwave checked some equipment which had been decoding the CNA of a shard of predacon fossil as he spoke.
“Farewell…and good luck, Soundwave.”
The fossil should be nearly done now, Shockwave thought, taking note of how most of the CNA had been decoded and uploaded onto his computer. It was slightly different from his previous predacon’s CNA, a smaller form of predacon perhaps than the massive and formidable Predaking. He would truly find out later what sort of creature this particular specimen was once he had the full CNA code-
It was another few minutes before Shockwave picked up the continued crackle of energy and realized that the groundbridge had remained open.
“May I...stay?”
It had been eons since Shockwave heard that voice, he had not been sure that he would ever hear it again, audial fins straightening to attention as he stepped to the side. A familiar mech stood before him as the groundbridge hissed closed behind the figure, plunging them both into the dim green light of the computer’s screen and purple glow of the overhead light strips.
Soundwave remained still as if in wait expectantly for a reply from Shockwave who found his brain module taking an abnormally long time to register these events as Soundwave’s servo reached his own, settling on it carefully as if ready to pull back at any moment.
Shockwave’s vocal processor seemed to have other ideas as it spoke before his mind had concluded this to be a logical action.
“Of course…however long you may need.”
As Soundwave’s digits tightened ever so slightly on their grip upon his servo, Shockwave knew deep down that there was not a more logical decision that he could have answered with.