#boomboxblaster

If he were a dark, lurking spymaster where would he be? Well, he wasn't anywhere near the bots, that was for sure. Twas the first place Blaster tried to open a bridge—bridges. Plural. So, unless the carrier had the worst timing in the world, he felt assured that Soundwave really wasn't nearby. But where else? …say, where did Shockwave go, anyway? After they took care of Unicron, that singularly optic'd mech split real fast.

Weren't he and Soundwave friends?

Another mech hunt, and Blaster was sure it would give him a bigger processor ache. Still, it was the only lead he really had, and—and they had a list of Shockwave's laboratories on Cybertron. Right, how could he forget so quickly?

And before someone could ask 'which one', he was gonna say all of them. All of them, and he was gonna go through each of them individually til somethin' clicked. Or, rather, til the bridge cataloged someone exiting itself. Sure, it wasn't the most time-efficient plan and he'd have to hope this tech was reliable, but it was better than nothing, baby.

Better than nothing, and it was too bad Blaster couldn't personally greet the mecha. Oh, he would—hypothetically—but he liked not being in the brig, thanks. As such, the mech had to open the bridges remotely, making sure not to cross the streams again, lest he simply make things way more complicated than they already were. This was enough of a grievous breach of protocol as it was, and a real trick to get to work right.

So it went, hopin' and dreamin' that Soundwave would take the hint should he be anywhere near those swirly green portals. Hoping, because Blaster still couldn't be for sure that this plan was going to go smoothly. Very few things those days did.

Yet, far too many failure-filled days later, his instruments marked movement through the two apertures. It was enough of a shock to make the jet nearly fall out of his chair, staring gobsmacked at the readings. Oh please, Primus, let this be over. He was beggin' ya. Literally begging you under his breath that his console hadn't suddenly bugged out from overexertion or that this was all a dream. It would only be his luck, and the bridges shut after the blip passed into the outside realm.

Manically, Blaster righted himself, using the Nemesis' tracking systems as a means of confirmation. If there was one mech Blaster knew by Spark it'd be him and there was no way he couldn't get them to lock onto that stupid, unidentified but beautiful blip. Unidentified it didn't remain for long, Soundwave's name popping up on the monitor, faint but readable... right next to a blip that looked an awful lot like Shockwave. Huh, so he wasn't alone; that was good. Meant that Blaster wouldn't have to worry about him too much. The other would come find him—his deployers—in his own time.

With that mention, Rumble stirred in his docks. The minicon didn't need to use the ship to know what had just happened at all; the instant that blip appeared, the little thing could feel it. Something happened. Something far more important than that third nap he'd taken that day. Something more important than sulking and being miserable.

Soundwave was alive. Didn't know how or why, but he was out. Maybe he wasn't nearby, but regardless the blue twin immediately requested out to go find his brother. Rumble needed a lil' confirmation of another kind. Obliging, Blaster wasn't so sure he'd ever seen the minicon move so fast, watching him scurry off while the carrier sunk into his chair again.